Benjamin Netanyahu has now served as prime minister of Israel longer than anyone in history — three non-consecutive stints over 18 years, or almost a quarter of the time Israel has been an independent country.

And from the beginning, his power has been on the verge of collapse.

About a year into his first term as prime minister, the international press smelled blood in the water. Netanyahu was facing possible indictment over a bribery scandal involving his attorney general — though, as the Washington Post noted in an editorial headlined “Can Mr. Netanyahu hang on?,” he was already “hip-deep in controversy” before that scandal erupted. After an embarrassingly botched assassination attempt targeting Hamas’ Khaled Meshal that damaged relations with Israel’s most important Arab ally, the Eco

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