Facts are stubborn, in the Middle East as elsewhere. When, in 1993, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin launched Israel into a peace process with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), he did so not only to ensure long-term security for Israelis. He justified the bold move as necessary to preserve Israel's dual Jewish and democratic character. That Jewish character would be compromised if equal rights were granted to Palestinians in the occupied territories, while indefinitely denying such rights would undermine democracy in Israel.

Rabin paid the price for his courage and his clarity when he was assassinated two years later [in November 1995] by a fanatical supporter of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories. Benjamin Netanyahu, then leader of the opposition, had fueled a campaign of hatred against the prime minister, did nothing to soften his combative rhetoric, and went on to narrowly win the 1996 elections.

Three decades have passed since then, decades during which Netanyahu managed to govern Israel for over 19 years in total – first from 1996 to 1999, then from 2009 to 2021, and finally from December 2022 to the present. This remarkable longevity has allowed him to deeply shape Israel's institutions, politics and even society, which has become unprecedentedly polarized. For Netanyahu, this concentration of power became an end in itself: He benefited from a form of immunity, enabling him to evade the triple indictment filed against him since 2019 for corruption, fraud and breach of trust. He has also steadfastly refused to acknowledge any responsibility for the collapse of Israel's security on October 7, 2023, rejecting the creation of a commission of inquiry into the matter.