Netanyahu returns via Israeli hard-right

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Former and future Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is known globally by his nickname: Bibi. But among some in Israel, he's also called the "magician," in part because of his political resiliency, which had already made him Israel's longest-serving leader.

That tenure is set to extend after the coalition he leads won a governing majority Tuesday in Israel's fifth election in just over four years.

It's an extraordinary political and personal triumph for Netanyahu, who is still facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. But the victory came via a partnership with far-right parties once cordoned off to the edges of Israeli society. In doing so, the "magician" risks a disappearing act with newfound Arab allies and its staunchest partner, the U.S., let alone tolerance within Israel itself.

The two extremist parties will now form the third-largest bloc in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. One of Netanyahu's newfound governing partners, the Jewish Power party's Itamar Ben-Gvir, was barred from joining the Israeli Defense Forces because he was considered to be too politically extreme and was once a committed follower of racist Rabbi Meir Kahane, among other toxic positions. He favors legal immunity for Israel soldiers who fire at Palestinians, deporting rivals he accuses of terrorism, and putting an end to Palestinian autonomy in portions of the West Bank. Another once-marginalized movement, the Religious Zionism party, also holds extreme views regarding Palestinians and other sectors of secular Israel, including the LGBTQ community.

Several factors contributed to the rise of the right-wing. One was the collapse of the left-wing as the Labor Party, once Israel's institutional governing party, dwindled to new lows. Meretz, once a vanguard of the peace movement, missed representation levels entirely. Overall, the anti-Netanyahu coalition that included an Arabist party for the first time in an Israeli government, could not overcome the country's conservative (if not radical) drift.

It will be up to Netanyahu to keep his coalition from unraveling the breakthrough Arab relations set under the Abraham Accords, the signature foreign-policy achievement of the Trump administration. And he must not repeat the mistake he made during the Obama administration when he bypassed the president and made a direct appeal to Congress on Iran.

The election's results mean "real profound consequences for Israel," David Makovsky, director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told an editorial writer. Netanyahu, Makovsky said, "is risk-averse, but this hard-right party, I worry, is not risk-averse, and they'll want to show they're making a difference."

If that difference results in a domestically less-tolerant and internationally more-provocative country, that won't serve Israel — or the U.S. — well. Fortunately, there are some built-in brakes, including the Abraham Accords, which have been "like a rocket ship between the Emirates and Israel," Makovsky said, referencing the kind of diplomatic and economic breakthrough Israel would like to extend to Saudi Arabia, a prospect that would be deeply set back by more annexation of West Bank land, for instance.

Regarding Washington-Jerusalem relations, Makovsky believes that Netanyahu is unlikely to repeat his Obama-era brashness, which sharpened the partisanship around Israel — a misfortune for both countries. And besides, Makovsky added, Israelis view President Joe Biden as a leader with "decades of credibility of being a very staunch, visceral supporter of Israel."

Still, the State Department was right to offer an implicit message when spokesman Ned Price said, "We hope that all Israeli government officials will continue to share the values of an open, democratic society, including tolerance and respect for all in civil society, particularly for minority groups."