To survive scandals, Netanyahu relies on mantra: no one else can lead Israel

Political operative Tzion Bouskila says his phone has been ringing lately with calls from Israeli Cabinet ministers and lawmakers from Likud, Israel’s ruling party.

They’re anxious, he says, to know how news of mounting corruption scandals involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is playing in his working-class town of Netivot, a long-time party stronghold.

“They want to know what the pulse is on the street,” says Mr. Bouskila, who heads the Likud party’s branch there. “And I tell them support just keeps rising and rising … and they themselves should support Netanyahu with all their might.”

So far they seem to be listening, remaining loyal to Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s master political survivor, despite the most serious challenge yet to his four terms in

Standing by their championNo successor has been groomedThe right-left divide