On three separate occasions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed settler darling Danny Danon to senior positions, despite his personal disdain for the man and all the headaches and embarrassments that Danon has caused him. Danon has been attacking Netanyahu since 2007, when he ran against him for the Likud leadership under the campaign slogan, “Danny Danon is to your right, Bibi.”
After the 2013 elections, Netanyahu appointed Danon, then a relatively young Knesset member but one with a considerable Likud power base, to be his deputy minister of defense. Though Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon excluded him from ministerial activity, Danon wasn’t bothered. He simply used the time to continue building his power base among the Likud’s hard right flank. Before and during Operation Protective Edge, Danon went from one TV station to the next, claiming that the prime minister was controlled by the left and that his policy was too slack. Netanyahu fired him on July 15, but the fanfare that accompanied his dismissal played right into Danon’s hands and actually scored him points on the right.
For months, Netanyahu ignored Danon whenever he ran into him. After the 2015 election, however, he appointed the energetic Knesset member, who had since become chairman of the Likud Central Committee, as the new minister of science, technology and space, while leaving stalwart loyalist Knesset member Tzachi Hanegbi out of the new government. Here, too, Netanyahu wasn’t particularly overjoyed about giving Danon the position. He simply succumbed to the enormous power that Danon wielded among the Likud’s right-wing flank and among the settlers.
On Aug. 14, Netanyahu promoted Danon for a third time, naming him Israel’s next ambassador to the United Nations. Netanyahu preferred Danon over his close confidant Ofir Akunis, who had been loyal to him for the past two decades. Here, too, the considerations were political. As it turns out, Danon has a remarkable ability to climb the ranks of seniority by becoming a nuisance in the Likud, at least as far as the prime minister is concerned. As soon as Danon decided that he wanted that prestigious post, Netanyahu was convinced that only good would come of his appointment. As far as Netanyahu is concerned, a happy Danon in New York is preferable to a Danon who interferes and prevents him from getting his way with the Likud Central Committee.
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