Corruption trial, ICC warrant: Why Netanyahu will stay in politics even if he loses
Netanyahu stands to lose more than the premiership. His criminal corruption trial and the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against him are also at stake.
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to stay in politics even if he loses the Oct. 27 election. With the vote days away, no one in his Likud Party appears willing to contemplate his defeat, even privately.
Conversations Al-Monitor held with several senior Likud figures converge on the same conclusion: They remain convinced that Netanyahu will prevail, as he has in nearly every election over the past 17 years, despite polls suggesting that he could face a deadlock with his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, or even suffer a humiliating defeat.
Netanyahu, who turned 77 on Oct. 21, has never groomed a successor and has quashed early efforts to prepare for a post-Netanyahu era. As he seeks a seventh term, none of Likud’s aspiring leaders is challenging him.
Asked why no one in the party would entertain a Netanyahu defeat, a senior Likud minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor: “There’s no point discussing it. Netanyahu will leave when he wants to. Anyone who tries to push him aside will be punished.” Party members, the minister said, “understand that these are his final years, but he is the most popular figure in Likud.”
