Middle East & Africa | Bibi’s long bye-bye

Netanyahu’s shadow starts to recede in Israel

An unlikely coalition is surpassing expectations. But a crucial vote looms

Oct 30th 2021|JERUSALEM

THE PARALLEL-UNIVERSE politics that played out in Jerusalem this month were unusual, even for a holy city full of surprises. In the real Jerusalem on October 10th, Naftali Bennett, Israel’s prime minister (pictured), was glad-handing Germany’s outgoing chancellor, Angela Merkel, by welcoming her to a special session of his cabinet. In the otherworldly Jerusalem, Mr Bennett’s predecessor, Binyamin Netanyahu, was holding court with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, the son-in-law and daughter of America’s ex-president, Donald Trump, and Mike Pompeo, his last secretary of state. It was as if the video had been wound back to 2020, before voters evicted them all from power.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Bibi’s long bye-bye”