Israel’s society is deeply divided. Many citizens expect little commitment from their government to tackle the massive social problems, aggravated by the Covid 19 pandemic. The Arab Israelis are angry because Gantz ignored them in favor of forming a government, even though their list emerged from the elections as the third strongest force. Through his manoeuvering, Gantz has gambled away their trust and that of most Israelis in the civil society opposition. In the end he hardly contradicted Bibi, and even left Netanyahu’s plans for annexation of the West Bank uncommented. Politically inexperienced, Gantz seems like wax in “Bibi’s” hands.

After more than 13 years in office, Bibi is a nationally and internationally astute strategist. The old-new prime minister and commander-in-chief of the army promptly made it clear that he did not want to change anything about this asymmetric relationship, and at the same time set his agenda towards the Palestinians: He would certainly work with Gantz, former Chief of General Staff, as successfully as they cooperated in the 2014 military operation in Gaza.

On May 24, Netanyahu is on trial for corruption, and so far he has not been able to bring the Israeli judiciary to its knees. Israel’s political crisis is by no means over.