SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
A fragile ceasefire is still holding between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza War. This week, a delegation of high-level U.S. officials were in Israel to try to keep the truce together. The Israeli press gave the group a nickname - Bibi-sitters (ph). It's a reference to Benjamin Netanyahu, known as Bibi.
Netanyahu is Israel's longest serving prime minister. He's been in power for most of the last 16 years, and he's been accused of trying to stay in power by extending the war in Gaza, even if that meant putting the lives of Israeli hostages in danger. That accusation has been made by several families of hostages and by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
So what does Netanyahu's political future look like, and how tied is he to the Trump administration's interests? We're putting that question to Anshel Pfeffer. He's the Israel correspondent for The Economist and the author of "Bibi: The Turbulent Life And Times Of Benjamin Netanyahu." Welcome to the show.
ANSHEL PFEFFER: Thank you for having me, Sacha.
PFEIFFER: How do you see the prospects of Prime Minister Netanyahu's future, given the various pressures he's under?
PFEFFER: You used the term a couple of times in your intro, in power. And I think talking about Netanyahu currently as being in power is inaccurate. He's in office. He is the prime minister. That's his title. He chairs the cabinet, and he has various responsibilities, but he's not really in power in the sense that he has power over what's happening.
As you said quite rightly, he prolonged the war, and most Israelis believe that he prolonged the war for political reasons, and those political reasons are that he's at the mercy of a very far-right, very radical coalition. He doesn't control his coalition. He needs them to remain in office to be prime minister, and that's one of the reasons why he prolonged the war for so long.
PFEIFFER: Well, let's hear, actually, a piece of sound from President Trump because after the ceasefire, Trump made a speech in the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, where he commended Netanyahu.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You are a very popular man. You know why? - because you know how to win.
(CHEERING)
PFEIFFER: What effect did that speech and Trump's comments have on Prime Minister Netanyahu's position at home?
PFEFFER: I think Israelis have a very sophisticated filter when they listen to someone like Trump. And they know how unpopular Netanyahu is right now. In most polls, he's got support of less than a third of the Israeli population. And Trump is - you know, he's giving him this soft-soap treatment, but everyone is also seeing at the same time how the Trump administration is making it very clear to Netanyahu that he doesn't have any freedom to maneuver when it comes to this ceasefire.
We've seen the procession of very senior administration officials who have been in Jerusalem this week on Bibi-sitting duty. We've seen how senior American officers have been sent here to represent the administration and to be at this new sort of headquarters, which is supposed to coordinate operations in Gaza, but actually what it's doing is very closely monitoring the Israeli operations. They're making sure that they don't break out from the ceasefire's constraints.
PFEIFFER: You described Netanyahu as in office but not in power. What do you think Netanyahu has power over right now?
PFEFFER: Well, he has, right now, more and more limited power because as we saw in the last three years that many parts of policy of the Israeli government are controlled by his coalition partners - whether it's domestic policy, whether it's policing and so on - at least he was in charge of Israel's diplomacy and, you know, the highest level of security decision making.
But now we see that there are American generals here in Israel right now basically dictating to the Israeli army what they can and can't do in Gaza. So even that level of power is being taken away from him, so it does seem that, you know, his share of power is constantly shrinking.
PFEIFFER: If the ceasefire holds, there's still the issue of what to do with the Palestinians, what to do with the wreckage of Gaza. In your book, you wrote that Netanyahu, quote, "has done little to find solutions to the conundrums of Israel's occupation of the Palestinians," and Netanyahu said there will be no Palestinian state. How much does resolving that issue or maybe leaving it unresolved matter to his political survival?
PFEFFER: Netanyahu's political survival has always been based on not really changing the status quo. I think the question of what happens in Gaza over the next few months is important because it's gradually clearer and clearer to Israelis that he's not in control of what's happening there, and I think that will continue to erode his support.
PFEIFFER: You have said that you agree with accusations that Netanyahu prolonged this war for the sake of his political survival. This may sound like a naive question, but I think for some people, it's unimaginable that you would allow so much death and destruction on both sides to continue just to try to remain in office or remain in power. You believe that's what's happening?
PFEFFER: Well, when you put it in that way, it does sound very cynical and very cruel. But Netanyahu, like a lot of politicians, has an incredible knack of finding what he thinks is the - Israel's national interest to be exactly what seems to be also in his own political interests. Now, like I said, that is very - that's not something rare for politicians. I've yet to hear a politician say, well, this is very bad for me politically, but it's in the national interest, and therefore, I'll do it.
It always seems to be that politicians find their preferred version of what national interest - it somehow always works to their political benefit. But I think Netanyahu takes that very natural political instinct to a level that very few other politicians succeed in doing.
PFEIFFER: That's Anshel Pfeffer, the Israel correspondent for The Economist and the author of "Bibi: The Turbulent Life And Times Of Benjamin Netanyahu." Thank you.
PFEFFER: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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