BIBI’S ISRAEL
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU IS PACING THE STAGE AT A CYBERCONFERENCE IN TEL AVIV, and he is not happy. For the past seven minutes, he’s been making the case that his policies have launched a booming tech industry in Israel and enabled the tiny country that once fought for its existence to become a security force around the globe. He’s holding his shoulders up and back, a stage tip he got from Sean Connery. His red tie, white shirt and dark suit mirror a certain American President who has emerged as a massive Netanyahu ally.
But there’s a problem. Graphics on the giant screen behind him keep popping up at the wrong time. “Who’s dealing with the slides? Get that person out of there,” Netanyahu says, with the sweep of an arm. He makes his next point, then orders: “Now show a slide.” Pause. Nothing. “God, I’ve never had this happen before. This will require debriefing.”
In mid-July, Netanyahu will surpass David Ben-Gurion, the closest thing Israel has to a founding father, to become the longest-serving Prime Minister in the country’s history. Bibi, as he is universally known here, has won five elections and cultivated a U.S. President who appears intent on fulfilling Netanyahu’s every desire. So why isn’t he in a better mood?
The unpleasant reality is that Netanyahu approaches the career summit with his personal power arguably at its greatest risk. Prosecutors have threatened indictments on corruption charges. And he has failed to form a government following his most recent election victory, in April. Instead of spending the summer handing out ministries to allies, Bibi is preparing for yet another campaign, a September do-over election that will test yet again whether the Israel that has grown to resemble its Prime Minister—prosperous, powerful and resilient, yet insecure—still wants him.
The centerpiece slide pops up without a hitch. It’s a black-and-white photograph showing Israeli commandos in white coveralls standing on the wing of Sabena Flight 571, a jetliner taken over by four Palestinian terrorists in 1972. “That’s me up there, I think,” Netanyahu says, pointing to the commandos storming the plane disguised as technicians. “That’s 50% me, because I don’t remember if I was on the left wing or the right wing of this Sabena airline. Anyway it was hijacked, and the way we stopped the hijacking then was to burst through the doors and do whatever we did.” The team of 16 Israeli commandos, led that day by Netanyahu’s eventual political rival Ehud Barak, rushed the cabin, killing two of the four hijackers and rescuing some 100 passengers and crew. Of the three passengers wounded in the cross fire, one
