The Israeli Resistance to Populism

The Israeli Political Moment, Part 2: The Israeli Resistance to Populism

by Paul Gross

The Israeli Declaration of Independence’s promise of equal rights, quoted at an anti-government protest in Jerusalem in 2023. Photo by the author.

One does not have to be a close follower of Israeli politics to know that Benjamin Netanyahu has dominated the political scene in Israel for many years. He is in fact Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, all told. His first term was just three years, 1996–1999. But he returned in 2009, and he has been in office ever since—except for an eighteen-month interregnum during the period 2021–2022.

It was during that brief respite that I first thought of Israel as offering some kind of political model for other countries. It’s counterintuitive. Israel’s political system was notoriously dysfunctional even before the chaos of 2019–2021, which saw four elections held in a two-year period. Three failed to produce a clear winner, but the fourth led to Israel’s strangest ever coalition. A collection of right, left, and center parties, including the first ever Arab-Israeli party to be part of a governing coalition. They were united by two beliefs: that the endless cycle of inconclusive elections had to end; and that Netanyahu and his refusal to bow out of politics despite facing three criminal corruption charges were to blame for this.

And this was where I thought Israel was offering a solution to a widespread political problem. Israel’s political opposition had unseated a populist leader pursuing an increasingly illiberal agenda—which I described in part 1 of this two-part essay. Also at this time, two countries where illiberal populists were firmly ensconced in power were facing elections: Turkey and Hungary. As I wrote in an essay published at the time, entitled “Israel’s Change Coalition Is a Template to Fight Populism”:

Erdoğan and Orbán have been far more successful than Netanyahu ever was in dismantling the checks and balances on executive power. Parties who disagree on much can nevertheless unite over the patriotic mission of rescuing liberal democracy. Like Israel’s Change Coalition, they can place ideology to one side and pursue ruthless pragmatism and a no-frills agenda of good governance in the national interest.As it turned out, I was wrong and I was right. . . .

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