michael barbaro

From The New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.” Today, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, faces indictments over an alleged scheme involving brazen acts of bribery and fraud. So why are so many Israelis ready to re-elect him? It’s Wednesday, March 27.

david halbfinger

I think the only way people would vote for someone under indictment is if they can’t live without him, if they think he’s indispensable.

michael barbaro

David Halbfinger is the Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times.

david halbfinger

And if you really want to understand how Benjamin Netanyahu developed this idea that he’s the indispensable Israeli leader, you’ve got to go all the way back to the early 1990s, when he first arrived on the scene.

archived recording Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Arafat, chairman of the executive council of the Palestine Liberation Organization, his excellency Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, the president of the United States.

david halbfinger

When the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is getting going the first time, really, ever —

archived recording (bill clinton) Prime Minister Rabin, Chairman Arafat, Foreign Minister Peres —

david halbfinger

There is this breakthrough moment of the Oslo Accords.

archived recording (bill clinton) Today, we bear witness to an extraordinary act in one of history’s defining dramas.

david halbfinger

And those accords, as we know, provided for Israel to begin to start pulling out from the occupied territories in Gaza and the West Bank, and the goal was this would eventually lead to a Palestinian state.

michael barbaro

Right. I remember watching this historic moment at the White House, and I think everyone who watched it and processed it in the days and weeks later thought this is truly a turning point in the history of the Middle East, Israel and the Palestinians.

david halbfinger

That’s right, but Netanyahu didn’t see it that way. To him, Oslo was dangerous, a risk, a big mistake.

archived recording The government has gone too far, too fast, and most people say, hold it.

david halbfinger

It’s right at this time that Netanyahu emerges on the Israeli political scene, taking over the Likud party, warning against how unwise and foolhardy these Oslo Accords would prove for Israelis.

archived recording [CHANTING]

david halbfinger

He gets into a really closely contested race in 1996.

archived recording With just days to go before the Israeli elections, campaign fever is sweeping the country. Netanyahu, who is against Peres’s peace agreement with the Palestinians, is selling his own vision of a secure future for Israel.

david halbfinger

And —

archived recording It took a split second and 22 pounds of TNT to transform a packed commuter bus in rush-hour traffic into a pile of twisted metal and blood. The attack, the bloodiest in Israel in nearly 20 years, came just three months before an Israeli general election.

david halbfinger

There were suicide bombings by Palestinians that were leaving scores of Israelis dead. It was bloody. It was awful.

archived recording 1 After the latest bombing Israel’s opposition leader urged Israelis to be restrained. archived recording 2 Don’t give up. They’re trying to break us, these terrorists. They won’t break us.

david halbfinger

And he was the guy who had been warning against precisely this kind of thing. He goes to sleep one night thinking that he has lost the race, and he wakes up the next prime minister of Israel.

archived recording 1 Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, 46, thrice-married, father of three, right-wing politician and, now, Israeli prime minister. archived recording 2 This is the victory of the Jewish people. This is the victory of Israel. This is the victory of Jerusalem. And we say, hey, thank God! Thank God!

michael barbaro

And is it the view, David, that Netanyahu won precisely because of his skepticism about making peace with the Palestinians, that he was giving voice to something that maybe many Israelis privately agreed with?

david halbfinger

I think that’s right. I think that as much as people want to embrace optimism and hope and did then, I think he figured out a way to tap into that visceral, you know, gut-level fear. I mean, violence does happen here. This is a very small country. It’s the size of New Jersey, roughly, in area and in population, and it’s been fighting wars, you know, as long as it’s been around. And everybody here knows somebody who lost somebody. You know, every time one of those buses blew up in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, or a cafe exploded, everybody knows somebody who didn’t survive. So with that kind of a populace, with that kind of an audience, Netanyahu’s message is very powerful.

michael barbaro

And what happens to the peace talks once Netanyahu is elected in ‘96?

archived recording For four days, the world has wondered what will happen to the Mideast peace process now that the right wing is back in power.

david halbfinger

So he gets in, and having made these warnings, he now is the leader of the state of Israel, which depends very heavily on the United States, whose administration under Bill Clinton was very much interested in pursuing peace. So where does that leave Netanyahu? He basically slow-walks.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) I can tell you that we’re negotiating earnestly, but I cannot at this time predict an end. I hope that the other side shows goodwill. We certainly have showed it.

david halbfinger

He resists. He slows things down. He expresses reservations.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) I would be very careful.

david halbfinger

But ultimately, because Israel is so dependent on the United States at that point —

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) Our position is to not only move on the peace process, but also improve the prosperity and economic conditions of the Palestinian population.

david halbfinger

He does get pressured into shaking Arafat’s hand, into striking a deal in Hebron.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) And I believe that we can advance to achieve both goals for the benefit of both peoples.

david halbfinger

And ultimately, it’s those concessions, which inflame his own base, the right wing of Israel, against him. And when it comes time for him to get re-elected in 1999 —

archived recording I think that Barak will take the elections. Israel is disappointed with Netanyahu.

david halbfinger

A lot of them desert him, and he goes down.

archived recording Bibi Netanyahu lost the elections, and his own coalition actually turned against him.

david halbfinger

He’s bounced out of office, and he’s sent into the wilderness. It seems like it could be the end of his political life.

michael barbaro

So Netanyahu, having run on a campaign of skepticism about the peace process, is kind of strong-armed into engaging in it a small way and experiences a huge blowback that costs him politically. What is the lesson for him?

david halbfinger

Well, the lesson is you don’t get anywhere by participating in a process you don’t believe in. I think that’s the lesson that he carries with him to this day.

michael barbaro

So what happens next?

archived recording (bill clinton) The objective now is to put the peace process back on all its tracks.

david halbfinger

Israel tries again for peace talks under President Clinton, with Ehud Barak.

archived recording (ehud barak) A strong Israeli-American relationship must be the cornerstone on which to build a peaceful Middle East. Mr. President, the road ahead may be long and arduous, but together with our peace partners, we can and will make it happen.

david halbfinger

There’s this historic deal on the table in 2000, but the talks collapse.

archived recording We have received five casualties so far. One of the casualties is a young girl who has suffered multiple burns. She is now on a mechanical ventilator and is undergoing extensive tests. We have one patient with hand burns, and we have three other patients who have been only lightly injured.

david halbfinger

And later that year, the Palestinians resume their terror attacks against Israel.

archived recording A car bomb went off in a narrow, lightly-traveled side street in a working-class area of West Jerusalem.

david halbfinger

The Second Intifada begins.

archived recording More deaths and suffering on Jerusalem’s streets, inevitably more fear and hatred. Bodies were carried out on stretchers and in black plastic bags.

david halbfinger

And that’s really three years of carnage inside Israel.

archived recording 1 The explosion ripped through the crowded bus, throwing bodies and wreckage across the road. archived recording 2 The bombing was probably carried out as yet another act in the violent tit-for-tat killings that have overwhelmed people’s lives here for so long.

david halbfinger

This is what led the Israelis ultimately to build the barrier wall separating Israel from much of the West Bank. All this time, Netanyahu is watching, sort of once again seeing his philosophy, his beliefs about the Palestinians and the prospects for peace essentially being vindicated.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) When I left office, I had time to kill. So I went around the world, and I saw what everybody was doing. And when I was offered this opportunity, I said, O.K.

david halbfinger

So he returns to the scene as the finance minister.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) But I need to run the economic cabinet because that gives me the ability to actually make the decisions.

david halbfinger

You know, it’s a kind of a thankless job, you’d think. This is the guy who has to raise taxes. But actually, Netanyahu comes into the finance ministry.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) We cut spending.

david halbfinger

He cuts taxes.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) Cut welfare.

david halbfinger

He cuts the bloated bureaucracy.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) Took over the pension funds of the unions which were in actual bankruptcy.

david halbfinger

He privatizes industries.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) Raised the retirement age for men and women.

david halbfinger

And he really lays the groundwork for what would be widely praised across the spectrum here as an economic miracle for Israel.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) The economy last quarter grew 5.5 percent. Stock market has more than doubled. It’s grown 100 percent in 12 months. And money is flowing in, and investment is coming in. Israel is a very, very good deal.

david halbfinger

He develops this new kind of gravitas and regains the leadership of the right-wing party, Likud.

archived recording At this ceremony Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu took over as prime minister of the Middle Eastern nation.

david halbfinger

And in 2009, he’s able to win the job, and he was the next prime minister.

michael barbaro

And David, what does Netanyahu do once he’s back in power as prime minister? I have to imagine that given his vindication from the ‘90s with the peace process and once again in the mid-2000s, he’s kind of hardened in this unwillingness to engage in negotiations with the Palestinians.

david halbfinger

Yeah. I mean, it’s in this time when he really kind of masters the art of his form of politics.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) You see, at stake is not merely the future of my country. At stake is the future of the world. And nothing could imperil our common future more than the arming of Iran with nuclear weapons.

david halbfinger

He’s got this incredible ability to stir the fears of Israelis, their basic existential fears.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) To understand what the world would be like with a nuclear-armed Iran, just imagine the world with a nuclear armed Al Qaeda.

david halbfinger

He is masterly in his management of the Israeli economy.

archived recording Israel is the fastest-growing, one of the most dynamic entrepreneurial and innovation-based economies on the planet.

david halbfinger

And he starts getting re-elected again and again with relative ease.

archived recording And it’s election day in Israel, and it appears prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will get another term in office.

david halbfinger

And it’s also in this period that Netanyahu really cements the idea that he is truly indispensable to Israel.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) My friends, I have come here today because as prime minister of Israel, I feel a profound obligation to speak to you about an issue that could well threaten the survival of my country and the future of my people.

david halbfinger

He picks a fight with the Obama administration over the Iran nuclear deal.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) It doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb. It paves Iran’s path to the bomb. So why would anyone make this deal?

david halbfinger

He goes so far as to go to Congress and to challenge Obama publicly.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) We’ve been told that no deal is better than a bad deal. Well, this is a bad deal. It’s a very bad deal. We’re better off without it.

david halbfinger

And ultimately, what happens — he wins. You know, Obama leaves office.

archived recording (donald trump) My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.

david halbfinger

Trump comes in. Trump basically echoes everything that Netanyahu has been saying.

archived recording (donald trump) In just a short period of time, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapons.

david halbfinger

And lo and behold —

archived recording (donald trump) Therefore, I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

david halbfinger

The United States exit from the nuclear deal. And in 2016, Donald Trump promised at his convention speech —

archived recording (donald trump) I alone can fix it.

david halbfinger

Only I can fix it. A year later, Netanyahu can say to Israelis, only I could have pulled this off. Only I could have stood up to an American president on his signature issue and been vindicated, you know, because I know the Americans so well. They get me. Only I could have done it. And there he is again, the indispensable man.

michael barbaro

And when Netanyahu says that, it feels true, right?

david halbfinger

Yeah, and I have to say yes. Earlier this year, Netanyahu put these giant billboards up for his campaign showing him alongside Trump. You know, they’re like six or eight stories high, each of them. And I think when many Israelis think about what he accomplished, pushing back against the Iran deal — I think, you know, he is that large in their minds. No prime minister could have done that except Bibi.

archived recording 1 Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu. He’s held the post for nine years, but now his political future seems, at best, uncertain. archived recording 2 Investigators say there is now sufficient evidence to charge Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of public trust. archived recording 3 The next step now will be for the attorney general here to either reject or accept the police recommendation calling for an indictment. archived recording 4 Huge breaking news out of Israel. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to be indicted.

michael barbaro

David, all of this sounds like the story of a prime minister who is experiencing tremendous success and who is delivering very well on this message of indispensability that’s at the center of his political life. So what exactly goes wrong?

david halbfinger

I think, in hindsight, somewhere along the way as he’s growing in stature really fast and really big in the eyes of his people, in the eyes of the rest of the world, you know, he starts to believe exactly how indispensable he is trying to convince Israelis he is. He starts to really identify himself with Israel, and that’s not just taking personally what happens to Israel. That’s thinking that, you know, what’s good for you is good for the country, and there is an arrogance to that as well.

archived recording For six weeks now, Israelis have been demonstrating against the prime minister — “crime minister,” as they’ve affectionately nicknamed him.

david halbfinger

You know, there’s two things that start to get him into trouble, according to what we’ve been learning in the recent months. For one thing, he develops a taste for the trappings of power. There’s the sense that he and members of his family — they feel that somebody who is as exalted a leader on the world stage should be treated accordingly. There’s a steady stream of gifts that he’s accused of accepting from billionaires and Hollywood moguls who he’s friends with and so on.

archived recording Luxurious champagne for the lady and fine cigars for the gentleman.

david halbfinger

You know, there’s jewelry arriving in the prime minister’s residence for his wife. There’s tens of thousands of dollars worth of cigars. There’s champagne. And then —

archived recording Case number two — Netanyahu reportedly struck a deal with a major newspaper where, in return for more favorable coverage, he would weaken a rival newspaper.

david halbfinger

The second thing is, if you’re the indispensable man, but you see impediments to your continuing to lead, and those impediments might be in the form of a critical, fractious news media, well, how do you get around that? Maybe you want to bend the news media to your will, and you’ll look for ways to do that.

michael barbaro

How did that work, exactly?

david halbfinger

So there are just countless examples of this, but one that really stands out for me goes back to Election Day, the last time, in 2015. He put up a video on Election Day itself —

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) [SPEAKING HEBREW]

david halbfinger

— where he speaks to camera and says, you’ve got to come out.

archived recording (benjamin netanyahu) [SPEAKING HEBREW]

david halbfinger

The Arabs are being bussed to the polls in droves. You know, they’re not allowed to advertise in the last number of days of an Israeli election, but Walla News, this news website over which Netanyahu is wielding enormous influence and control, Walla News is prevailed upon to run this Facebook video on its home page prominently all day long.

michael barbaro

Wow.

david halbfinger

And who knows how many people saw that and got right out and voted.

michael barbaro

So no other candidate can advertise at this point, but this video kind of serves as a kind of advertisement for Netanyahu through a media organization that he’s got this, essentially, bribery arrangement with.

david halbfinger

That’s right. That’s the allegation.

michael barbaro

And what do we know about how this was coordinated by Netanyahu or people around him?

david halbfinger

So, much of this has been reported because the prosecutors have turned state witnesses out of some of Netanyahu’s closest aides — his media adviser, his deputy in the communications ministry, the guy who is running him back and forth, allegedly, between the family and the newsrooms. You know, there are conversations where the prime minister’s wiretapped talking to some of these guys. There’s just apparently a massive trove of evidence that we’re not going to see until after the election, but I think from the way it’s been reported up till now, it’s going to be pretty damning.

michael barbaro

David, how do you think about these two things existing side by side, these extremely damning allegations of corruption, bribery, fraud, and an Israeli electorate that may very well still be poised to re-elect the man who allegedly committed those acts?

david halbfinger

So I think that Israelis are just having a very difficult time imagining the next thing. Netanyahu’s been in office for 10 years. He’s done really well by the average Israeli. And Netanyahu himself has become this huge, towering figure. I mean, there is nobody else on the scene. You know, the man challenging him, this former army chief — he’s got lots of stature. He’s very tall. But Netanyahu’s image just dwarfs the guy. And so for Israelis, I mean, they take these charges seriously. But it is very, very hard for them to think about anybody else in that job. And that, really, for many people, I think, when they go into the ballot box, it’s going to be hard for them to get past that, that idea. Up against Netanyahu is this new party. It’s led by a bunch of generals who are promising Israeli voters that they know how to keep them safe, that their security is in good hands. But Netanyahu is telling people, you know, I know you. I know your fears. Trust your fears, and you can only trust me to keep you safe.

michael barbaro

And it seems to be working.

david halbfinger

It’s worked for him so many times, and it just might one more.

michael barbaro

David, thank you very much.

david halbfinger

Michael, it’s great to be with you.

michael barbaro

Polling shows that the Israeli election scheduled for April 9 remains extremely close. In the days leading up to the election, Netanyahu has received political assistance from President Trump, who broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy by recognizing Israel’s authority over the Golan Heights, long a source of international controversy, during a ceremony at the White House this week. If Netanyahu is re-elected, he could become Israel’s first sitting prime minister to face criminal prosecution. We’ll be right back. Here’s what else you need to know today. In an unexpected move, the Trump administration is waging a new attack on the Affordable Care Act, telling a federal court that it now believes the entire law should be invalidated. In the past, the administration has asked courts to strike down individual elements of the A.C.A., but to leave the rest of the law in place.

archived recording (nancy pelosi) Last night, in federal court, the Justice Department of the Trump administration — you’d think they’d have more to do — decided not only to try to destroy protections for pre-existing conditions, but to tear down every last benefit and protection the A.C.A. affords.

michael barbaro

The timing could benefit Democrats, who were already planning to campaign for the presidency on a message of saving the A.C.A., and it could hurt Republicans, who fear the decision may anger constituents who have come to rely on the A.C.A. If the court agrees with the administration’s request, millions of Americans could lose their health insurance, a possibility that House speaker Nancy Pelosi was quick to highlight.

archived recording (nancy pelosi) And the Department of Justice becomes the Department of Injustice when it wants to tear down health care benefits.

michael barbaro