Will Netanyahu govern forever?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's May 14 assessment that the next election will not be moved up was intended to stifle the buzz in Israeli political circles. According to him, the election will be held as scheduled, in November 2019.

Over the last few weeks, Netanyahu watched as a coalition crisis over Israel's Public Broadcasting Corporation — a crisis for which he was responsible — threatened to see the Knesset dissolved and set his coalition partners into campaign mode. Netanyahu threatened Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon in March with early elections unless the Kulanu chair accepted a compromise on the issue.

Netanyahu released this mollifying message at a meeting of coalition leaders on May 14. That evening, Channel 2 News reported that he even instructed the heads of the Finance Ministry to prepare a state budget for 2019, hinting that the current government is here to stay.

On the other hand, even if it now looks like the prime minister does not want the election moved up, not one of the coalition party leaders takes his statements seriously. It is obvious to all of them that Netanyahu will have no qualms about coming up with an excuse to call an election as soon as it suits him. They also have no way of knowing when that will be.