Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister, took up the reins of his most recent and turbulent term in late 2022 as Israel faced a historic moment with a Nodal Return and Uranus in Taurus conjunct its Taurus Sun. I wrote at the time that Israel had “turned its face against progress and doubled down on the worst of the past.”
He was facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust as he headed the most rightwing administration in the country’s history, made up of Jewish ultranationalist and religious parties. He promised to overhaul the judicial system, accelerate settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and highlight Jewish identity in public life. These and other plans have drawn unprecedented criticism from the defence establishment, business community, education system, LGBT+ rights groups, legal officials.
Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich, an ardent supporter of Jewish settlements, was made finance minister, with a second post in the defence ministry with sweeping administrative controls over the occupied West Bank.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, convicted of incitement to racism in 2007 and a former disciple of the anti-Arab ideologue rabbi Meir Kahane, went in as national security minister with expanded powers over the Israeli police and responsibility for border police who operate in the West Bank. He advocated that that soldiers receive blanket legal immunity from prosecution. Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are sanctioned by the UK and other states for inciting settler violence.
2022 had already seen Israeli forces kill more Palestinians in the West Bank than in any year since the United Nations began systematically recording fatalities in 2005, after the last major Palestinian uprising. The bloodshed has been blamed by Palestinian and Israeli rights groups and U.N. experts on Israel’s excessive use of force and open-fire rules as well as rising assaults by settlers in the West Bank.
Since the Hamas 2023 attack, settler violence and expansion have reached record levels, often occurring with what observers describe as “near-total impunity” or with the support of Israeli state policies. Reports from 2025-2026 indicate that more than 93% of police investigations into settler violence in the West Bank were closed without indictment, and only 3% resulted in convictions. Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to military courts with a reported 99.74% conviction rate, whereas Israeli settlers in the same territory are subject to civilian courts.
Benjamin Netanyahu, 21 October 1949 10.15 am Tel Aviv, Israel, has a Libra New Moon in his 11th house square an acquisitive Jupiter in Capricorn in his financial 2nd house; and sextile a bombastic Mars in Leo in his opinionated 9th (conjunct Pluto). He has an idealistic and slippery Neptune conjunct Mercury in 10th house; with his Mercury in an impulsive square to Uranus.
He has the headstrong Antares on his Sagittarius Ascendant which can lead to destruction through obstinacy. His Chiron is in his 12th suggesting he is trapped in an identification with the scapegoat and victim; with Chariklo nearby he will also be rooted in a sense of eternal suffering.
The recent February Aquarius Solar Eclipse fired up his combative Mars; and the upcoming August Solar Eclipse conjunct his Pluto hints at a need to transform his outlook totally (though he could ignore the celestial tug and continue as before.) His Solar Arc Uranus is conjunct his Midheaven exactly now (birth time being accurate and not rounded up) which could suggest a change of direction. Tr Neptune square his Uranus late May to mid August and again off and on into early 2028, will be nerve-stretched, perhaps even more fanatical. That tr Neptune at 4 degrees Aries does hit a variety of charts including the Israel country one and may be significant.
His Progressed Mars will square his Uranus later this year into 2027 which will be a tremendous jolt and could be risky. But on the whole he looks in better shape than one might expect ahead – with a sprinkling of unfavourable midpoints this year, and more positive, successful ones in 2027. Where he will run into the buffers, if he is still around, will be by 2030 with his SA Mars square his Pluto.
Tr Uranus will rattle up his relationship with Israel this month with a calamitous tr Uranus opposition the Mars/Saturn midpoint as the Iran offensive heats up; and gets another jolt as tr Uranus moves into Gemini in the second half of this May and repeating later. But for all that, it is a tight bond with no immediate signs of a separation.
His relationship with the USA is a good deal more troubled right through this year into 2027; as indeed is Israel’s with the USA for several years ahead.
His bond with Trump with a composite Pluto, Saturn, Mercury, Sun, Mars is toxic, only capable of surviving if the white-hot/black anger is directed outwards. If their involvement in a war against others was knocked out of the equation and they turned on each other ???!!! Wipe out. Again late May to end of August this year will prove a disappointment to them. Though it won’t end the friendship.
Netanyahu’s 2022 Term chart has a yod of South Node sextile Sun inconjunct Mars – which fits with a regressive and aggressive/martial administration.
Both Smotrich and Ben Gvir (without birth times) look relatively upbeat over the next two or three years. Though there may be cracks appearing with Netanyahu. No doubt they hope to supersede him at some point. Smotrich is an opportunistic Sun Pisces opposition Jupiter Mars conjunction which is being activated this year and in 2027.
Ben-Gvir has a determined and adventurous Jupiter Venus in Taurus opposition Uranus which is being challenged and possibly boosted over the coming two or three years; with a super-confident, self-aggrandising Jupiterian yod inconjunct an ambitious Neptune sextile Pluto. He could be prominent towards late decade.
An intriguing argument has been put forward about Israel’s long term future – that it is likely to turn into a ‘third-world economy’ because the fast-growing ultra‑orthodox Haredi community is under-educated, under-employed and refuses national service. The view is thought to be overblown but it is still true that the more educated, productive, entrepreneurial and tax-paying part of the population, which stocks the military, is growing far more slowly than the Haredi who at present number about 1.5 million people, or 14pc of Israel’s population. They typically marry young, have large families and their segregated schools focus on religious scripture, often at the expense of subjects such as maths and science. Few will go to university, and up to half of Israel’s Haredi men do not join the mainstream workforce.
Add On: The head of the leftwing Democrats party, Yair Golan, said; “Netanyahu promised a historic victory and security for generations, and in practice, we got one of the most severe strategic failures Israel has ever known.” “It’s a total failure that endangers Israel’s security for years to come.”
The reality is that Netanyahu gambled everything on his war and in his failure to secure the fall of the theocratic regime, the seizure of Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, or meaningful state degradation, Israel’s global standing – already massively tarnished by its actions in Gaza, where it has been accused of committing a genocide – has been damaged.
The fallout in terms of public opinion and diplomacy is likely to be even more serious for Netanyahu and Israel. In America, in particular, a political consensus dating back to the 1960s is visibly crumbling. Israel’s role in pushing Trump to war in Iran has been assailed by both progressives and Maga’s far right, while support for Israel more broadly is at historic lows even among Jewish voters.
“In a war with no winners, Netanyahu looks like the biggest loser
As Iran and US agree fragile ceasefire, Israel’s conflict has turned out to be a bust and, say opponents, ‘a political disaster’”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/08/war-with-no-winners-netanyahu-israel-iran-us-ceasefire
One analyst say Netanyahu is like a puppy that keeps chasing it’s own tail, but will it catch it. He was referring to Netanyahu’s endless war that he is not winning, since he took office his term is just filled with wars. Some believe he is using these wars to stay in office, since he still has corruption and fraud cases to answer. The recent Iran war has caused more damage to Israel’s reputation than any war, he has failed to remove Iran’s regime, failed to destroy nuclear weapon threat. Naturally Netanyahu with his Pluto and Mars in Leo, makes him very obstinate, he is the kind who fights till the end. I won’t be surprised even if he dies in office. Uranus is moving into Gemini from April 26, he needs to watch his back. Very dangerous times for him ahead.
Pluto in scorpio when I seem to get the religious meddling in daily life began to hopefully, when pluto exits pisces-sign of confusion and religious confusion….as it seems to began disturbing as Neptune entered pisces…this would end.
Till then, from Asia to Israel to Europe,perhaps; educated taxpayers would have to suffer such enjoying luxuries on religious disguise …
One of the sad things about the state of Israel that it has increasingly developed a kind of ghetto mentality. In part this attitude was built into Zionism from its inception as a reaction to European anti-semitism. This feeling of vulnerability and a need to circle the wagons has led to a tendency to take preemptive action against perceived threats whether real or imagined. This was a danger pointed out by Edwin Montagu a Jewish Minister of the Liberal Government during the First World War. He was a critic of Zionism and an opponent of the Balfour Declaration. Montagu wrote that “All my life I have been trying to get out of the ghetto; you want to force me back there”. His argument was that Zionism would by its very nature would isolate Jews and eventually reinforce anti-semitic attitudes to them across the world.
This is a valid and relevant statement; it all comes down to the idea of victimhood and generational trauma. Hurt people, hurt people unless they choose to heal.
Israel is a country born out of trauma. The problem over the decades is that political leadership has increasingly come to depend upon promoting and extending it. This has been bad news for the Palestinians and its neighbours who have to deal with the consequences. The almost non stop war in recent years is having a corrosive effect on Israeli society where it is estimated that as many as 3 million people are now suffering PTSD. While war is a shared experience for Israelis it is also highlighting the divisions in the society both between Jews and Arabs and between religious sub groups such the Haredi and the rest of society. As the country fractures many individuals are simply giving up on the Zionist project and leaving with upto 200,000 people emigrating since Netanyahu took power in 2022. The embracing of extremist politics will eventually destroy Israel unless it is reversed soon.
There is an interesting article in “NYT” today on how Trump was lured into operation in Iran by Netanyahu. If DJT is removed or incapacitated, it’s clear there’s no love lost between JD Vance and Netanyahu. They are going to pin all of this to him, and I wouldn’t be completely surprised if it led to Hague.
From a political viewpoint (that is about garnering votes and winning election), if Netanyahu chose to “martyred’ himself at Hague after he ran roughshod, it might help his sons to gain their political inheritance from the father thus winning future election. But we shall see whether or not he is willing to do that.
It is so depressing that these people have been democratically elected.
In the UK as soon as austerity kicked in 2011 the far right began to rise again. That times with Uranus moving into Aries and then on into Taurus (the egocentric signs which have no care for others) against a background of Pluto in Capricorn. And it resonates with the 1930s when Uranus moved into Aries / Taurus with the background of Pluto in Cancer. I’ve always seen Cancer/Capricorn as the axis of security – protecting yourself emotionally and physically against those outside of one’s own group.
It does lead to the hope that once Uranus kicks on into Gemini with the background of Pluto in Aquarius things will begin to settle down politically. Probably not immediately but over time just as they did in the 1940s when WWII began to turn once Uranus moved into Gemini (1942) with a Pluto in Leo background.
The fact that people like Trump and Netanyahu are elected in some ways reflects poorly on their political opponents on the left. This has been a particular issue in the West where old fashioned socialism predicated on an overarching wholistic view of the economy and society fractured into a myriad of particularist causes. Many of these were predicated on groups within society competing for relative positions of advantage. This has played into the hands of the right whose own philosophy is based precisely on that concept. Implicitly many on the left have accepted the rights belief that liberty, equality and fraternity for the populace as a whole can never be achieved and the only way for society to advance is reward particular chosen groups. This concept that politics is just a competition between winners and losers is always ultimately going to play into the hands of people like Trump.
As has been mentioned this would be a particular issue when Pluto was in Capricorn concentrating power in the hands of a tiny group of plutocrats and reinforced by Uranus in “me first” Aries or in Taurus which is a sign driven by a need for personal security and material comfort
Is the psy ops tailoring of info to ‘activate’ an identified percentage of the voting population also relevant – allegedly used to devastating effect in Brexit (tailoring pop up content from social media (200/person?) criteria (and continued in other elections).
Things like carefully worded widespread advertising and interaction invitations linked to individual log in times on subjects like football etc to access that deep anger and mistrust towards Europe and guide the swing vote to vote – ‘take back power’ and outrage over ‘immigration’ etc
Wonder also if the left ‘socialism’ is as outdated as religious outreach (communism being essentially christianity without the God factor?), the world having moved on through existentialism to nihilism to post modernism (whatever the progression is). I just know that alot of the socialists around me are welfare state (nostalgia for a world that is long gone?), or cynical business people. Neither have traction towards our societies embodying ‘the God whom we love is absent’ (except to the extent each individual can incarnate that God him or herself and this takes time and painstaking effort?).
Or perhaps the reality is that in the absence of these qualities other things arise that necessitate (learning) these qualities and that is where we are now.
(Sorry to all – not astrology)
Does it count as ‘turbulent times’ if you are the one who causes them?
Intriguing about the possible long-term effects in a country where a large religious group has major influence and possibly power, but refuses to adapt to changing circumstances. Perhaps non-Israeli Jewry will save Israel from itself, but unfortunately there is probably no astrology that could indicate whether this might happen.