Netanyahu at the arrival of plane with a shipment of Pfizer coronavirus vaccines
Israel’s prime minister is gambling his premiership on winning the global vaccine race and rolling over a string of Middle East peace deals as he faces a daunting fourth election in the space of two years.
Embattled by corruption scandals, three inconclusive poll results and economic chaos wrought by the pandemic, Benjamin Netanyahu — fondly known as "Bibi" — has placed vaccines at the heart of his campaign ahead of fresh polls in March.
His Right-wing Likud party believes that Israelis’ delight at receiving vaccines so early will lead to a resounding victory at the ballot-box, seeing off a new rival party which has sought to steal right-wing votes.
"Absolutely Bibi is using it as a campaign issue, he’s not hiding it," said Dr Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli political analyst and pollster. "The joke going around town is that every ten seconds in an interview he has to mention vaccines,"
The key issue, she explained, was whether vaccine success will help Mr Netanyahu win back voters who are furious about the economic damage caused by the pandemic.
Middle and lower-middle class business owners, particularly the market vendors of west Jerusalem, are a major part of the Likud’s base. But they have been infuriated by a lack of government support and the disappearance of tourists due to a border shutdown.
People queue outside a Covid-19 mass vaccination center at Rabin Sqaure
Credit: Kobi Wolf
At the peak of the pandemic, unemployment in Israel rose to around 20 per cent. One shoe shop owner in Tel Aviv was so distraught by the lockdown that he dumped his stocks onto the pavement in protest.
"The question is whether those swing voters will succumb to the pull of the vaccine, or whether they abandon Likud because their businesses have been shut down and they are mired in bureaucracy," Dr Scheindlin said.
"Because elsewhere, those who like him will say he deserves to win. And those who don’t will say, he did a good job on vaccines — but he’s bad in every other way."
The need to secure as many vaccines as possible led to surreal scenes at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, where the country’s most powerful man bombarded vaccine providers with nearly 20 phone calls.
“The prime minister, I would say, drove all these companies crazy with instant phone calls and pressure,” Yuli Edelstein, the Israeli health minister, told the Telegraph in an interview earlier this week about the logistics of supplying vaccines.
“He explained the advantages of supplying the vaccine at a very early stage to Israel. He played a crucial role."
Mr Netanyahu’s efforts paid off, with the Jewish state quickly becoming the world’s fastest vaccinator as it gave the first of two jabs to more than 20 per cent of the population in just a few weeks. The prime minister has said that all Israelis over the age of 16 will have received their jabs by the Spring.
It means that Israel, often the subject of excoriating criticism, is now basking in international praise — though it has faced some disapproval for not vaccinating Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel says it has no legal obligation to provide vaccines for the West Bank and Gaza, as the 1990s-era Oslo peace accords state that this is the duty of Palestinian leaders.
The path to securing millions of vaccines for Israelis was not easy, however.
Mr Edelstein said Israel’s government was initially concerned that it would be at the back of the queue, with the major firms showing little interest in a market of just nine million people.
Coronavirus Israel Spotlight Chart — Cases default
To avoid this, Mr Netanyahu made at least 17 personal phone calls to Pfizer, where he argued that Israel’s small size worked to its advantage as it could complete the vaccination process faster than other countries.
“The companies weren’t really looking in our direction,” Mr Edelstein said. “So we tried to ‘sell’ the idea to companies that if we received the vaccine we would receive quick results long before others around the world.
The disclosure gives some insight into how Israel managed to import millions of doses of the Pfizer vaccine ahead of many other countries, including Britain.
Israel is reported to have paid a higher price for those vaccines — nearly $30 per dose according to broadcaster Kan, compared to around $20 or lower in the United States and the European Union.
Mr Netanyahu’s other trump card is the Abraham Accords, the peace treaty signed on the White House lawn last summer with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
That deal has allowed settlers in the West Bank to begin exporting “Made in Israel” wines and olive oil to Emirati clients, a gesture that will delight right-wing voters.
The accords also unlocked dozens of trade deals, direct flights and full diplomatic relations, while allowing thousands of Israelis tourists to enjoy holidays on the beaches of Dubai for the first time.
Bibi’s supporters say it has transformed the Middle East by allowing friendships to blossom between Israelis and Arabs, something that they say was once unthinkable.
Palestinian leaders strongly condemned the treaty as a "stab in the back" as it upends a longstanding demand among Arab countries for the creation of a Palestinian state.
It remains to be seen if the accords or a vaccine triumph will see off Mr Netanyahu’s most threatening challenger, a pro-settlement firebrand and former Likud minister who has placed himself firmly on the right of his former boss.
New right-wing challenger Gideon Sa'ar could become a major headache for the Israeli prime minister
Credit: Amir Cohen
Gideon Sa’ar, the founder of New Hope, is projected to win around 19 seats, which would make his faction the second largest in parliament after Likud, which is set to secure 28 seats.
"There is no doubt Netanyahu will take credit for the vaccinations. However, you can’t separate Netanyahu’s responsibility between achievements and failures," said New Hope MK [member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament] Yoaz Hendel.
"If Netanyahu is responsible for the vaccine…at the same time he has responsibility for the unemployment and the political instability and the fourth elections."
It is a strong start for Mr Sa’ar, a 54-year-old former intelligence operative, and he may well prevent Mr Netanyahu and his allies from securing the 61-seat coalition needed to form a government.
The same cannot be said for Benny Gantz, whom critics of Mr Netanyahu once believed was their only hope of unseating the veteran leader.
A poll in December said the centrist leader of Blue and White was facing electoral oblivion this March, falling from 33 seats to just five.
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