How influential is Netanyahu?

First elected as prime minister in 1996, he has since won five elections, making him the longest-serving leader in Israel ’s history. Netanyahu, 75, has seldom been personally popular—recent polls suggest only 40% of Israelis trust him—but long ago established himself as “Mr. Security,” the man best placed to protect Israel from its enemies, notably Iran and its allies Hezbollah and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. To his critics inside Israel, “King Bibi” is a ruthless and corrupt danger to democracy who prioritizes his own interests over Israel’s. The right-wing leader is, nevertheless, the most influential figure in Israeli politics today, and arguably the entire Middle East . Both friends and foes describe Netanyahu as the ultimate political

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