The Netanyahu Era

Tells the story behind the rise of national-conservative populism in Israel across multiple arenas, including the judiciary, foreign affairs, and the media, and the cultural battle over Israeli identity, all of which are rooted in the struggle over Israeli democracy. This book deciphers the riddle of the Netayahu era, offering the first in-depth, ideological analysis of a transformative two decades of right-wing rule. It exposes the structural changes enacted by Israel's longest-serving leader across pivotal domains, including civic education, national culture, constitutional law, public service, news media, and foreign policy. The Netanyahu era embodies a journey from a Jewish and democratic Israel into a neoliberal, religious and polarized Judeocracy. Politically, Benjamin "the wizard" Netanyahu consolidated the right wing under the "National Camp" while effectively constructing a religious bloc spearheaded by the settlers and religio-nationalists. Thus, he initiated a counter-Zionist turn, marginalizing secular nationalism in favor of religious populism. His Likud party, historically liberal and national, became neoliberal and later antiliberal under his rule. This paradigm shift facilitated a systemic regime transformation: from ethno-liberal democracy to a national-conservative, populist autocracy under Netanyahu's sixth government. Netanyahu did not just follow the authoritarian protocol—he invented much of it during his rule, setting the stage for other populist leaders seeking to transform democracy from within. Under his leadership, ideological imperatives were institutionalized into permanent structural changes, altering the fabric of Israeli democracy.