Bibi’s Balancing Act: A Decade of Power, Crisis, and Controversy

Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s decade in power reads like a geopolitical thriller: from his triumphant return in 2015 to the roller-coaster of scandals, wars, and seismic political shifts that defined Israel’s trajectory through 2025. At the outset, Netanyahu secured reelection amid controversy, warning of “Arab voters in droves” and renouncing any Palestinian state. His unsanctioned address to the U.S. Congress in March 2015, lambasting the Iran nuclear deal, shattered bipartisan norms and strained relations with President Obama. Yet that very same defiance would later pay dividends under Donald Trump, who recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, relocated the U.S. embassy, and, on the eve of Israel’s 2019 election, blessfully endorsed sovereignty over the Golan Heights.Domestically, Netanyahu’s tenure was marked by an assertive rightward turn. He championed settlement expansion with unprecedented zeal, presiding over rapid growth in West Bank communities and enshrining the ethno-nationalist Nation-State Law in 2018—which downgraded Arabic to “special status” and declared that only Jews have a right to national self-determination. Critics decried the legislation as apartheid-like; supporters hailed it as a Zionist milestone. When the Trump-brokered Abraham Accords opened ties with the UAE and Bahrain in 2020, Netanyahu spun it as vindication for shelving his annexation plans—yet the Palestinian quest for statehood lay in deeper peril than ever.But it was politics at home that truly consumed Netanyahu’s energy. Between 2019 and 2022, Israel endured five elections in under four years, as the Likud leader grappled with rivals, a looming corruption indictment, and an electorate weary of gridlock. A fleeting unity government with Benny Gantz collapsed under broken budget promises; an 11-day Gaza war in May 2021 erupted while Netanyahu was in caretaker mode; and finally, in June 2021, a motley “Change” coalition led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid unseated him. Yet even in opposition, Netanyahu’s mastery of political theater—branding the new government “illegitimate” and sowing fear of a “dangerous leftist” takeover—kept him center stage.