On Aug. 19, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s convoy pulled up outside Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market, just a few minutes’ drive from his office. It was a sudden, allegedly spontaneous visit. Netanyahu decided that he wanted to hop over to a local vegan restaurant to grab a quick lunch. And if he was already there, this was a great chance to ask the owners of the restaurant whether they already received their coronavirus stipends. They said that they did and thanked him. Of course, there was nothing coincidental about any of this. Netanyahu’s spokespeople filmed the whole thing and posted it online. Netanyahu knew exactly where he was going, and whom he was about to meet. Inevitably, he was greeted with chants of, “Bibi, King of Israel!” After all, the market is considered his home court.
While all of this was going on, a senior Likud official was anonymously quoted as warning the Blue and White party, “This may be the last Wednesday of the 23rd Knesset. This isn’t working out. I had no high expectations from the outset, but I never thought it would be anything like this. It’s impossible to get any work done. Will we go to elections on Monday? That would be terrible, but continuing like this, given the current circumstances seems to me even worse.”
The “senior Likud official” was apparently no other than Netanyahu himself. Thus, given all of Netanyahu’s frenzied activities, the political system is now wondering whether he is already in the midst of a new election campaign or whether these are just more spurious exercises intended to apply pressure on governing partner Blue and White to allow him to amend the coalition agreement.
Most importantly, this frenzy could be part of an attempt by Netanyahu to gain some footing in the appointment of the state attorney. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is currently also the acting state attorney because Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn, elected as part of the Blue and White coalition, has not appointed someone yet. Netanyahu, who believes that Mandelblit is going after him, wants to weaken the attorney general as much as he can. This becomes all the more urgent as Netanyahu’s trial advances, and the question of whether he can continue serving as prime minister is raised.
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