Much of Israel has been trying to get rid of Benjamin Netanyahu for years. It may finally have discovered that “getting rid of Bibi” was the wrong campaign.

Not necessarily because Israelis no longer want him gone. Recent polling suggests Netanyahu and his coalition have a serious fight on their hands. But, because Netanyahu has always been strongest when the election is about Netanyahu. Love him or loathe him, he dominates the story.

For years, “anyone but Bibi” has been shouted at demonstrations, printed on placards, debated endlessly on television and turned into an organising principle for opposition politics. And yet Bibi is still here.

Netanyahu has been written off so many times that predicting his political demise has become something of a fool’s game. He has survived elections, investigations, criminal charges, mass protests, coalition crises, October 7 and a war that changed Israel profoundly.

Now, with Israelis heading back to the polls on October 27, something interesting is happening. The story may be beginning to change.

I spend a lot of time thinking and writing about narratives – in war, politics and information warfare – and particularly about what happens when we try to counter them. We tend to assume that if a narrative is powerful, the answer is to attack it. Correct it. Disprove it. Expose the person telling it.

But what if, by doing that, you help keep it alive?

If I spend all my time arguing against your story, I am still inside your story. I am talking about the characters........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)