How Benjamin Netanyahu Weaponizes Victimhood to Maintain Power Amid Crisis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to rely on a familiar political strategy as he heads toward his 13th parliamentary election, critics argue. Despite overseeing Israel’s greatest internal security failure and a genocide in Gaza, Netanyahu consistently responds to severe accusations by utilizing deflections, subterfuge, and claims of victimhood to protect his political career.

Recently, a report by the Israeli daily Haaretz alleged that the United Arab Emirates gave Benjamin Netanyahu advance warning regarding the Hamas-led attack of 2023. Instead of addressing the claims reflectively, Netanyahu responded with legal action, counter-accusations, and allegations of "foreign interference" in Israel's elections. Around the same time, a political advertisement was launched depicting Benjamin Netanyahu as a bullied child targeted by anti-Netanyahu classmates holding signs reading "anyone but Bibi", referencing the leader of the right-wing Likud party.

Serving as prime minister for 18 years across three separate periods, Benjamin Netanyahu has profoundly shifted Israeli politics to the right. Yet, he consistently employs populist rhetoric to portray himself as an outsider fighting the establishment. Israeli political psychologist Neta Oren from George Mason University noted that self-victimization remains a central component of the political playbook used by Benjamin Netanyahu.

"For years, he has presented himself as the representative of 'the people' against the elite," Neta Oren stated. By blaming his failures on forces like the "deep state," Benjamin Netanyahu successfully frames himself and his supporters as victims of the old elite.

In addition, Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have recently sought to evoke the legacy of the far-right Zionist militia Irgun, which was active prior to the establishment of the first Israeli government led by David Ben-Gurion in 1949. Analysts point out that these tactics mirror strategies utilized by populist leaders globally, including Donald Trump in the United States, Viktor Orban in Hungary, and Narendra Modi in India.

Benjamin Netanyahu's brand of populism heavily resonates with his Likud base, many of whom are Mizrahi Jews with backgrounds from the Middle East and North Africa who historically felt excluded by the Ashkenazi European establishment in Israel. Dani Filc, a professor at Ben Gurion University and author of Hegemony and Populism in Israel, explained that this narrative plays directly on collective memories of exclusion and victimhood.

This ongoing political discourse has heavily shaped Benjamin Netanyahu's clashes with the judiciary and media. Both his 2020 corruption trial and his proposed judicial overhaul have been framed by the Israeli right-wing not as legal matters, but as an existential battle against an unelected "deep state." According to Daniel Bar-Tal, a professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University, adopting this stance allows Benjamin Netanyahu to distance himself from government shortcomings, effectively avoiding accountability while maintaining the advantages of being viewed as a victim.