Haviv Rettig Gur is The Times of Israel s senior analyst.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a ceremony marking Memorial Day for Israel s fallen soldiers and victims of terror, at Yad Labanim in Jerusalem on April 13, 2021. (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool/Flash90)
At 10 minutes before midnight on Tuesday night, Benjamin Netanyahu informed President Reuven Rivlin yet again that he had failed to form a government.
It’s hard to exaggerate how painful the failure is for Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and what it means for his legacy.
Over the past two years, beginning with the failure after the April 2019 race, Netanyahu has turned to increasingly desperate and unorthodox measures to attain the victory that keeps eluding him.
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It is unclear how much Netanyahu uses McLaughlin’s advice, anyway. Within Likud circles Netanyahu is known as the ultimate self-consultant, preferring his instincts and his immediate family’s counsel over analytics.
For internal surveys in Israel, McLaughlin works with Israeli pollster Rafi Smith of Smith Consulting, analyzing his data. But Netanyahu usually consults with Likud campaign manager Ofer Golan, who is also said to use raw data from daily surveys, in decision-making.
US pollster John McLaughlin is seen alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an undated video. (Channel 13 screenshot)
Netanyahu and Golan “talk to each other using the numbers,” a source with knowledge of the campaign told The Times of Israel.