Israel Under Netanyahu: Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy

Description

Examining Benjamin Netanyahu’s more than a decade-long period as Israel’s Prime Minister, this important book evaluates the domestic politics and foreign policy of Israel from 2009-2019. This comprehensive study assesses Israel’s main political parties, highlights the special position in Israel of Israel’s Arab, Russian and religious communities, appraises Netanyahu’s stewardship of Israel’s economy, and analyzes Israel’s foreign relations. The scholars contributing to the volume are leading experts from both Israel and the United States and represent a broad spectrum of viewpoints on Israeli politics and foreign policy. The case studies cover the Likud party, the non-religious opposition parties such as Labor, Meretz, and Yesh Atid, the Arab parties, the religious parties and the Russian-based Yisrael B’Aliyah party, and present analyses of the ups and downs of Israel’s relations with the United States, the American Jewish Community, Iran, Europe, the Palestinians, the Arab World, Russia, China, India, and Turkey as well as Israel’s challenges in dealing with terrorism. Another highlight of the book is an assessment of Netanyahu’s leadership of the Likud party, which seeks to answer the question as to whether Netanyahu is a pragmatist interested in a peace deal with the Palestinians or an ideologue who wants Israel to hold on to the West Bank as well as all of Jerusalem. This volume will be of interest to readers who wish to understand the dynamics of Israel during Benjamin Netanyahu’s time as Prime Minister and are interested in the history and politics of Israel and the Middle East. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of tables List of figures Preface Acronyms Introduction to Israel in the Netanyahu era Part I Israeli domestic politics 1 The Likud under Benjamin Netanyahu: readjusting revisionism to the 21st century 2 The Zionist center-left opposition to Netanyahu 3 The Israel is our home party: Avigdor Lieberman and the evolution of Israel’s “Russian Street” 4 The religious parties in the Netanyahu era: the politics of Israelization 5 Netanyahu’s policies toward the Arabs in Israel 6 The Israeli economy under the leadership of Netanyahu: growth and stability at the cost of weakening the welfare state Part II Israeli foreign policy 7 Israel and the United States: an uncertain relationship 8 Israel–diaspora relations in the age of Netanyahu 9 The death of the two-state solution: Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab world in the age of Netanyahu 10 Coping with an existential threat: Israel and Iran under Netanyahu 11 The rise and fall of the Turkish–Israeli alliance 12 Israel’s pivot from Europe to Asia 13 Russia and Israel 14 Israel and terrorism: assessing the effectiveness of Netanyahu’s “combating terrorism strategy” (CBT) Epilogue to Israel under Netanyahu About the authors Annex one: Israeli election results, 2009 Annex two: Israeli election results, 2013 Annex three: Israeli election results, 2015 Annex four: Israeli election results, April 9, 2019 Annex five: Results of the September 17, 2019 Israeli elections: Knesset seats Index