Benjamin Netanyahu will become the longest-serving prime minister of Israel if he completes his current term in office. The “if”, however, has gained tremendous weight over the last few months. The man once seen as invincible is now the focus of criminal investigations that may, if allowed to proceed properly, prove that he is eminently vincible.
Last Friday, Mr Netanyahu's former chief of staff turned state's witness. To make matters worse, Mr Netanyahu's wife, Sara, is also under investigation for alleged misuse of public funds at the prime minister's official residence. And their notoriously vexatious son, Yair, has meanwhile been branded a "fascist" living in a "twisted reality" by children of one of Mr Netanyanhu's predecessors after he published a vitriolic Facebook post accusing his critics of being in the pay of foreign interests hostile to Israel. Sympathy for the Netanyahus in Israel, never that high to begin with, is at its nadir.
Under assault from all sides, Mr Netanyahu has decided to brazen it out. His attorney general is perceived by many Israelis to be dragging out the investigations to protect the prime minister. And the Likud party is whipping its elected officials to fall in line behind the prime minister, who, it says, can continue in office even if he is indicted.
Mr Netanyahu lashed out at a rally with supporters on Wednesday. Among his targets were the Israeli left, “fake news media” and the Oslo accords of 1993. This is a sign of things to come.
Mr Netanyahu is a master manipulator. His ability to put up smokescreens and create distractions has long been the secret of his survival. Palestinians and the region at large are bound to become casualties of his drive to remain in office at all costs. As his own former defence minister, Ehud Barak, said during last month's violent protests at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, Mr Netanyahu will "set the country and the region alight just to extricate himself from the menace of the investigations".
None of this is not to say that Mr Netanyahu's departure would result in relief for Palestinians. His potential successors (Gideon Saar, Yisrael Katz and Gilad Erdan within Likud, and Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman from Israel's far right) are as extreme as – or even more extreme than – he is. A country incapable of correcting itself, one that is ever more uncomfortable in its own skin and unwilling to make peace: this is the tragic legacy of Mr Netanyahu's long reign. Even as he limps on, he has effectively stymied almost any hope for a just resolution or a fair settlement for Palestinians. And that is an even greater tragedy.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
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Brief scores:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
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ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Dubai World Cup factbox
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Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)