A Land of Tricks and Magic: Benjamin Netanyahu's Trickster Politics in Israel's Permanent Liminality

Multiple analyses have attempted to decrypt Benjamin Netanyahu’s decades-long political dominance in Israeli politics. Psychological and political insights abound, yet they lack a central key to this phenomenon. This article proposes a novel methodological framework to understand Netanyahu’s “magic” and the social and political landscape that has enabled his enduring success, utilizing the analytic tools of political anthropology. By examining his creative use of language and imagery, and his ability to exacerbate societal divides, Netanyahu is likened to the trickster archetype. His success is explained by Israel’s permanent state of liminality, caused by unresolved state-religion dynamics, complex ethnic relations, and contentious geopolitical challenges. Such a condition is ripe for the emergence of a charismatic leader to steer the country away from liminality, or alternatively, the appearance of a trickster. Netanyahu’s leadership is positioned as both a product and a perpetrator of liminality, favoring a “conflict management” approach that eschews resolution.