The Netanyahu System
Review of my new book ("Das System Netanjahu", first biography on Netanyahu in German), in the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung by René Wildangel
Biography of Israel’s Prime Minister
Benjamin the Tough Guy
Benjamin Netanyahu has been a decisive influence on Israeli politics for more than 30 years. According to his biographer Joseph Croitoru, he has never changed his core ideology—the rejection of a Palestinian state.
Until now, there has been no political analysis [in German] of Benjamin Netanyahu, a public figure who has helped shape Israeli politics for three decades and dominated it almost single-handedly for the past fifteen years. Now Joseph Croitoru has published the first biography of Netanyahu in German. In twelve chapters, he traces the life of the current Israeli prime minister. The most recent events since October 7 are not the focus of the book, but are dealt with in the last chapter – which, as we know, is not yet complete.
The historian and publicist Croitoru leaves no doubt about the historical significance of the “exceptional figure” Netanyahu. His enduring, even growing popularity is also symbolic of the shift to the right in Israeli society. From the beginning, the author describes, Netanyahu was essentially exactly who he is today: an ardent Zionist from the right wing, a political propagandist, and a radical opponent of the Palestinian national movement and its ambitions for statehood. (…)
Netanyahu was driven then, as he is now, by his rejection of any recognition of Palestinian claims to their own state. Croitoru quotes a statement from 1978 in which Netanyahu described a Palestinian state as “suicide” for Israel. He repeated this phrase verbatim in his 2025 speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It is fascinating to see in Croitoru’s account how Netanyahu’s positions have essentially remained unchanged over the decades: they are ideologically set in stone and have remained consistent throughout his political career to this day. (…)
His charismatic demeanor made Netanyahu [already as a young diplomat in the US] a media star with bright prospects for a political career. In record time, he rose to become a member of parliament, deputy foreign minister, and, in 1996, prime minister for the first time. (…) Under pressure from American presidents, Netanyahu was later forced to negotiate himself, but he never made any real concessions. His latest coalition is the most radical both in its rejection of a Palestinian state and in its dismantling of Israeli democracy. Anyone who reads the biography will understand that Netanyahu not only tolerates most extremist positions, but also shares them at their core and has helped shape them. He is also the one who set the tone after October 7 with calls for “revenge” and a “war of annihilation.” (…)
[The author Croitoru] not only compiles well-known facts, but also contributes a wealth of newly researched, highly interesting sources, from which he quotes repeatedly.* The result is an extremely detailed and nuanced book: there is no better way to learn about the “Netanyahu system” in German, whose premises are now deeply rooted in Israel’s understanding of itself as a state and in Israeli society.
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/benjamin-netanjahu-biografie-israel-joseph-croitoru-li.3357417
* My book contains, among others, previously unknown letters of Netanyahu from the 1970s as well as a series of equally unknown files from the Israeli State Archives.