Netanyahu’s fall won’t solve Israel’s dilemma, and Eisenkot’s rise won’t solve it either

Whenever Israeli politics is shaken by an election or a domestic crisis, the same hope resurfaces in Western capitals: perhaps the problem is Benjamin Netanyahu himself, and perhaps…

Whenever Israeli politics is shaken by an election or a domestic crisis, the same hope resurfaces in Western capitals: perhaps the problem is Benjamin Netanyahu himself, and perhaps his departure could clear the way for a revival of the peace process. Today, with Netanyahu’s camp weakened and former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot emerging as a potential prime minister, that assumption has returned with renewed force. Yet it rests on a growing misunderstanding of how profoundly Israel has changed over the last two decades.

Eisenkot is undoubtedly not Netanyahu. The two men differ in temperament, political style, rhetoric, and their approach to governing institutions. But the Israel that produced Netanyahu is largely the same Israel that may now hand power to […]