Out, but not down, Netanyahu could be a tough opposition leader

Long-time leader decries creation of new government as the 'fraud of the century'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press at southern port of Eilat, on March 10, 2014, as Israel displayed advanced rockets seized from a ship allegedly transporting arms from Iran to Gaza. AFP

Benjamin Netanyahu, the then Israeli permanent envoy to the United Nations, holds up a file on Nazi criminal Alois Brunner during a news conference at the UN headquarters in November 1987. AFP

Benjamin Netanyahu, left, adviser to the then Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, right, in Madrid on October 30, 1991. AFP

Palestinians listen to the radio for the results of Israeli elections where Benjamin Netanyahu was an important player, in Jerusalem's Old City on May 30, 1996. AFP

Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shakes hands with ultra orthodox students of a religious school in Beni Brak, near Tel Aviv, in May 1996. AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the joint session of US Congress as Speaker of the US House Newt Gingrich, right, and US Vice President Al Gore, left, listen on July 10, 1996. AFP

Benjamin Netanyahu, second left, US President Bill Clinton, right, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, left, and King Hussein of Jordan at the White House in October 1996. AFP

Benjamin Netanyahu announces his resignation from the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, during a meeting of the Likud party central committee in Tel Aviv, on May 27, 1999, following his election defeat to Ehud Barak. AFP

Mr Netanyahu, then Israeli finance minister, visits the biology lab of the Lauder-Reut school in the Romanian capital Bucharest on December 18, 2003. AFP

Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu visits an archaeological site just outside the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, on February 2, 2009. AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Shimon Peres, right, escort Pope Benedict XVI after the pontiff's arrival at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on May 11, 2009. AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and US President Barack Obama during their meeting at the White House in Washington on May 18, 2009. AFP

Benjamin Netanyahu, left, Italian Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, second left, and Slovenian Prime minister Borut Pahor, second right, at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development meeting on May 27, 2010 in Paris. AFP

Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak watch as Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, second right, is received by his father Noam, right, following his release from the Hamas captivity, in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2011. AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu uses a diagram to describe Iran's nuclear programme at the 67th United Nations General Assembly meeting on September 27, 2012, in New York. AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second right, his wife Sara, then US Vice President Joe Biden, right and former British prime minister Tony Blair attend a state memorial service for Israel's former prime minister Ariel Sharon on January 13, 2014. Getty Images

Benjamin Netanyahu along with other heads of state takes part in a unity rally in Paris on January 11, 2015, after a three-day killing spree by homegrown extremists. AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump before the US president's departure from Tel Aviv on May 23, 2017. Getty Images

Mr Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, greet supporters during his post-ballot speech on April 10, 2019 in Tel Aviv. Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, US President Donald Trump and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, after signing the Abraham Accord in Washington in September 2020. AFP

Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said meets Benjamin Netanyahu in Muscat. EPA

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi (right) speaks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 18, 2017, in their first public meeting together. Reuters

King Abdullah II of Jordan shakes hands with Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of their meeting in Amman on January 16, 2014. AFP

Long the familiar face of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is headed to the political sidelines after serving as prime minister for more than a decade.

But even as he battles in court against corruption charges that he denies, Mr Netanyahu, as opposition leader, will be poised to pounce on a new governing coalition of right-wing, centrist and Arab parties with little in common other than a desire to unseat him.

In a likely taste of things to come, a stern-looking Mr Netanyahu, 71, decried the creation of a "dangerous, left-wing government".

"Fraud of the century," he declared after fellow right-winger Naftali Bennett turned against him on Sunday and opted to align with centrist opposition chief Yair Lapid despite a public promise that he would not do so.

Under a power-sharing deal that follows a March 23 election – Israel's fourth in two years – Mr Bennett, a former defence minister and a high-tech millionaire, will become prime minister.

He will later turn over the post to Mr Lapid, who once served as finance minister in a Netanyahu-led government.

The diverse composition of the Lapid-Bennett alliance could make it particularly unstable in a country so riven by political divisions that “do-over” elections have become the norm.

That means no one in Israel is ruling out a political comeback by Mr Netanyahu.

Already, the tone of his remarks has echoes of his closest international ally, former US president Donald Trump, now unseated but still commanding loyalty from supporters.

For Mr Netanyahu's grass-roots backers, known as Bibists, he remains a leader tough on security and a bulwark against pressure, even from Mr Trump's successor, President Joe Biden, for any bold steps that could lead to a Palestinian state.

From the opposition benches, Mr Netanyahu is likely to press on with a message that the new coalition will be hobbled by its left-wing members if military steps are needed against Israel's enemies.

Claiming the spotlight even as Mr Lapid was deep in negotiations on a change in government, a combative Mr Netanyahu seemed to pick a fight with Mr Biden on Tuesday over how to deal with Iran's nuclear programme, again hinting at the possibility of an Israeli attack.

“If we have to choose, I hope it doesn't happen, between friction with our great friend the United States and eliminating the existential threat – eliminating the existential threat wins,” Mr Netanyahu said in a speech.

Borrowed Time

The past few years have been rocky ones for Mr Netanyahu, whose stewardship of Israel's Covid-19 vaccine roll-out was not enough to halt his political decline.

A sense that he was living on borrowed time after 12 consecutive years in office was compounded by criminal charges over alleged favours to media tycoons and illegal receipt of expensive cigars and champagne.

Mr Netanyahu has denied all wrongdoing and says, without offering any evidence, that he is a victim of a deep state conspiracy against him.

Popularly known by his childhood nickname, Bibi, Mr Netanyahu is the son of a historian and attended high school and college in the United States, where his father taught.

Never lost for a soundbite, his booming baritone has resounded on the world stage since serving as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988.

Entering politics in Israel as a Likud legislator, he became party leader in 1993 and exerted hegemony for decades over Israeli politics.

The formation of the new government marked a rare defeat for Mr Netanyahu – the last time he and his wife Sara had to pack their bags and move out of the prime minister's residence was before the turn of the millennium.