Translated from Hebrew by Rebecca K. Koenigsberg. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
Posted on July 20, 2021.
A decade ago I asked my readers to imagine an alternative existence in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S. Republican leader in Congress change places. In this scenario, Netanyahu becomes the Republican leader, committed to a free market and a hawkish foreign policy, focused on the Israeli-American alliance, and engages in mutual support of the religious right and the populist movements.
The Republican leader who would change places with Netanyahu would make Aliyah to Israel, join the leadership of the Likud Party, and would do, in Jerusalem, almost the same thing that the American Netanyahu would do in Washington.** In exchange for support for the tea party, fringe evangelical Christians and white voters, the American Netanyahu would get support from the settlers on the West Bank, Haredi politicians and alienated Russian voters.