--- title: ‘Only the Strong Survive.’ How Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu Is Testing the Limits of Power description: After 13 years in power, Benjamin Netanyahu can claim to have remade Israel in his image. Is that a good thing? canonical: https://time.com/5624254/bibis-israel/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-11T10:03:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-26T20:12:49.510Z article:section: Politics og:title: ‘Only the Strong Survive.’ How Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu Is Testing the Limits of Power og:description: After 13 years in power, Benjamin Netanyahu can claim to have remade Israel in his image. Is that a good thing? og:url: https://time.com/5624254/bibis-israel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltacc532deec7708af/6989ffc6656a3f2275bd8922/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-2019-yuri-kozyrev-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3040 og:image:height: 1710 og:image:alt: benjamin-netanyahu-israel-2019-yuri-kozyrev-1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: ‘Only the Strong Survive.’ How Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu Is Testing the Limits of Power twitter:description: After 13 years in power, Benjamin Netanyahu can claim to have remade Israel in his image. Is that a good thing? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltacc532deec7708af/6989ffc6656a3f2275bd8922/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-2019-yuri-kozyrev-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Only the Strong Survive.' 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2080dbbf-2494-4df5-9a30-4aa3b88dada1&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 11, 2019 10:03 AM UTC  Netanyahu in his Jerusalem office, with portraits of Israel’s early Prime Ministers, starting with David Ben-Gurion, top left. Netanyahu in his Jerusalem office, with portraits of Israel’s early Prime Ministers, starting with David Ben-Gurion, top left. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 11, 2019 10:03 AM UTC Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pacing the stage at a cyber-conference in Tel Aviv, and he is not happy. For the past seven minutes, he’s been making the case that his policies have launched a booming tech industry in Israel and enabled the tiny country that once fought for its existence to become a security force around the globe. He’s holding his shoulders up and back, a stage tip he got from Sean Connery. His red tie, white shirt and dark suit mirror a certain American President who has emerged as a massive Netanyahu ally. But there’s a problem. Graphics on the giant screen behind him keep popping up at the wrong time. “Who’s dealing with the slides? Get that person out of there,” Netanyahu says, with the sweep of an arm. He makes his next point, then orders: “Now show a slide.” Pause. Nothing. “God, I’ve never had this happen before. This will require debriefing.” _To read the full story,_ [_click here_](https://time.com/longform/benjamin-netanyahu-interview/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5624254/bibis-israel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5624254/bibis-israel/"},"headline":"'Only the Strong Survive.' How Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu Is Testing the Limits of Power (11 Jul 2019)","datePublished":"2019-07-11T10:03:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-26T20:12:49.510Z","description":"After 13 years in power, Benjamin Netanyahu can claim to have remade Israel in his image. 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