B’nai B’rith Director of Latin American Affairs Eduardo Kohn joined France 24 to discuss, in Spanish, the Israeli elections.

Read more and watch the full interview on France 24.

According to the polls in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, former prime minister and opposition leader, could return to power if his party wins the parliamentary elections. This is partly thanks to the fact that Netanyahu and his party, Likud, ran in the elections with some religious and far-right parties as allies. But if Benjamin Netanyahu is elected, will he be able to form a government? We analyze it in this edition of The Debate.

Benjamin Netanyahu is the leader of the opposition and the Likud party, he has been prime minister on several occasions, the first between 1996 and 1999, then from 2009 to 2021, which makes him the person with the most years in office: 12 consecutive years of government and 15 years in total.

He is a defender of the free market, has reduced income taxes and during his government Israel experienced an economic “miracle” thanks to its measures considered to cut off ‘popular capitalism’, as some analysts call it.

The former prime minister also supports the freedom and rights of the LGBTIQ+ community, hence Israel being one of the most open states on the issue worldwide. He also opposed the Oslo Agreements, signed between the then Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which sought to provide a definitive solution to the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

Netanyahu is the only prime minister of Israel who has been charged during a term. He was accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, crimes that are related to cases known as 1000, 2000 and 4000, and that refer to the receipt of gifts in exchange for political favors to benefit his image as prime minister.

What would Netanyahu’s return to the Israeli political scene mean? What scenario opens up for a possible peace with the Palestinians? What characteristics would the nationalist government proposed by Netanyahu have? Will he be able to form a government? Will Israel get out of the political crisis? We try to answer all these questions in this edition of El Debate with the help of our guests:

– Eduardo Kohn, director of B’nai B’rith for Latin America and expert in Israeli diplomacy and international relations.

– Gabriel Ben-Tasgal, political analyst specializing in the Middle East.