Up until June 28, Benjamin Netanyahu’s official website referred to him as prime minister of Israel. More than two weeks after being removed from office, former Prime Minister Netanyahu still finds it hard to believe he has been ousted, and adapt to a changed reality. His Likud party’s lawmakers still call him “prime minister,” and all parties of the Likud-led opposition have been instructed clearly to reject the legitimacy of the new government, to ignore the regime change, to dub Prime Minister Naftali Bennett a “conman” and the government he leads “the greatest political fraud in the history of the state.” They act as if they still control the Knesset, refusing to accept the voters’ verdict and the June 13 swearing-in of the government that replaced theirs.

Netanyahu is having trouble bidding farewell to the power, authority and perks of office. His family continues to reside in the official prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, after Bennett agreed to delay his move there for a few weeks. Netanyahu is now trying to force the Likud to cover his private expenses, much like his years in government. He does not have a credit card, he only just got a cellphone, he has not driven a car in ages and he has no inkling of how ordinary Israelis manage their daily lives. Evidently, he sees no reason to adapt. Instead, he is running around the country, walking barefoot along the beach in the town of Bat Yam, drawing attention and posing for selfies, basking in the love of his many supporters who also continue to refer to him as “prime minister.” This is one of the toughest hangovers in the annals of Israel’s history.

A change of government in the United States is far simpler: The president boards the presidential helicopter or Air Force One, which flies him to civilian life, where he busies himself building the presidential library. In Israel, the former prime minister is now the leader of the Knesset opposition and is going nowhere. On the contrary. He has an excess of energy, he is acting like a man possessed, hanging on to the remnants of his past glory and trying to fuel his popularity and his standing as a leader only temporarily out of office.

It is hard to bring down a government in Israel. The Bennett government will fall automatically if it fails to push through the state budget in the coming months, an unlikely outcome barring exceptional developments. Netanyahu, his supporters and his Knesset members will surely realize at some point that they are not returning to power anytime soon. After 12 years, the Likud is not used to political exile. It has become accustomed to jobs, power and perks. Most Knesset members of the Likud and of its allied ultra-Orthodox parties have never served in the opposition bloc. The only political reality they know is one of abundant funding, influence and decision-making. They are in for a tough time.