Is Israel’s veteran political power couple making comeback?

Even without joint photo-ops and major declarations, the past two weeks have clearly been one of the better periods in the long, stormy and complex relationship between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman.

While the Israel-Gaza war in the summer of 2014, codenamed Operation Protective Edge, resulted in an ugly rift between Netanyahu and Liberman, who was Israel’s foreign minister at the time, in the current cross-border clash the two are working closely and harmoniously. According to the latest Hadashot TV poll on May 9, the two are also reaping the fruit of their successful defense policy. If elections were held now, the poll has Netanyahu’s Likud getting 35 of the 120 Knesset seats (up from 30 in the 2015 elections) and Liberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party with six (up one), marking a renewed flourishing of their relationship.

Netanyahu’s popularity is stronger now than it has been for years, despite a series of police investigations against him on suspicions of corruption. Liberman leads a party that has known better times, but he has managed to bounce back in recent weeks to the position of a responsible, levelheaded minister of defense. Those monitoring his recent pronouncements are struck by his measured tones vis-a-vis Israel’s military and diplomatic achievements: the US pullout from the nuclear agreement with Iran, and the Israel air force strikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria. These are dramatic moves that do not have Israelis running into shelters, for now. Liberman repeatedly reiterates the importance of avoiding arrogance and displaying contempt of the Iranian enemy, particularly at this time.

Speaking at his Knesset faction’s May 7 meeting and again at the annual Herzliya Conference May 10, Liberman insisted that Israel was not seeking all-out war. “It's all limited to a conflict between us and the Iranian Quds Force in Syria. … We have no interest in escalating the situation, but we must be focused,” Liberman said at the Herzliya Conference. He then warned that Israel must “remain cautious and modest and avoid getting carried away.” Liberman of May 2018 comes across as a serious, responsible defense chief working in tandem with military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot and with Netanyahu — far from the reputation he has earned as an impetuous, belligerent politician.