While Israelis tire of reports on endless coalition talks and evolving deals that monopolize the national agenda, 2022 has certainly become the year of incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comeback.

A year ago, Naftali Bennett was well into his eight months as prime minister. Together with Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, he had succeeded in what seemed impossible: the ousting of Bibi Netanyahu, the country's longest-serving premier. But their victory was short lived. Last June, having lost his Knesset majority, Bennett stepped down from his position, relegating the job to Lapid for a fourth-month period ahead of new general elections. It would be the fifth time Israeli citizens would go to the polls in less than four years. 

The Bennett-Lapid government, established in July 2021, had pledged to continue on the path of regional peace and expand cooperation with the Abraham Accords countries, that saw Israel normalize relations with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Indeed, President Isaac Herzog visited  the UAE last January, the first visit by an Israeli president to the country. That same month, Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited Bahrain, where he signed a historic security-cooperation agreement. In February, Bennett traveled to Manama for the first time. Then on March 27-28, as foreign minister, Lapid convened the Negev forum, which included the foreign ministers of the United States, Bahrain, Morocco, the Emirates and Egypt.

While running the government, Bennett, Lapid and Gantz put much emphasis onto rehabilitating and strengthening Israel’s diplomatic, economic and energy ties with Jordan and Egypt. The Jordanian case was the most difficult because of the bad blood between Netanyahu and King Abdullah. All three met separately with the king in Amman, and their efforts showed concrete results. For instance, last August, Israel’s Population Authority announced that 2,000 Jordanian workers would enter Eilat from Aqaba to work in the city’s hotel industry. Even more significantly, Jerusalem and Amman agreed to advance the Jordan Gateway Industrial Park to become one of the largest joint business ventures between Israel and its neighbors.