Will the Gaza crisis help Benjamin Netanyahu hold on to power?
The Israeli PM’s political problems have been overshadowed by escalating conflict with Hamas

After missing the deadline earlier this month to form a coalition government following Israel’s latest inconclusive election, Benjamin Netanyahu also appeared to be running out of time to save his career.
With his opposition in talks to form their own government, the country’s longest-serving leader looked set to be ousted from power, ending a 25-year domination of Israeli politics and fuelling the threat of a corruption trial that has dogged his government.
As political commentator Mati Tuchfeld wrote on the Israel Hayom news site, “even the greatest magician of all times at some point runs out of rabbits”. But then tensions in East Jerusalem exploded into violence – providing Netanyahu with the chance to pull off another political trick.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
‘Silver lining’
The ongoing violence between Israel and Palestinian militants is “Israel’s greatest security crisis in years” and “threatens to destroy what is left of the Middle East peace process”, writes The Telegraph’s senior foreign correspondent Roland Oliphant. But for Netanyahu, the chaos “has an undeniable silver lining”.
The civil unrest between Jews and Arabs has “dealt a strong blow” to efforts to unseat the Israeli prime minister “after a series of inconclusive elections”, Reuters reports.
Prior to the fresh outbreak of fighting, Naftali Bennett, head of the ultranationalist Yamina party, had been in negotiations to form a coalition government with a group of opposition rivals including the United Arab List, a small Islamist party commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Ra’am. But the raging conflict has made a deal between Arab and Jewish parties “politically impossible”, Oliphant says.
Bennett last week called off the talks, in “a nod to the inherent absurdity of a coalition between Jewish nationalists and Palestinian Islamists”, says New York Magazine. And the Yamina leader now “claims to be working toward a broader unity government that would include Netanyahu”.
Yet “there is little chance of this coming to fruition” either, the magazine adds - with the political stalemate providing Netanyahu with “yet another chance of rescuing his career”, as leader of any caretaker government.
“Netanyahu was on the ropes at the beginning of this week,” Anshel Pfeffer, author of biography Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu, told The Telegraph.
The PM’s “preoccupation with his own political and legal problems is part of the reason why he has not reined in Israeli police's heavy-handedness in Jerusalem, and part of this rapid escalation of the crisis can be explained by that preoccupation,” Pfeffer argues. But “there is a silver lining for him here”.
Netanyahu is still “fighting on three fronts”, writes Jamie Seidel on news.com.au, pointing to the stand-offs between Arabs and Israelis, “a political brawl that has left his country paralysed”, and “a court battle over charges of corruption”.
As “his forces stomp on Palestine and Hamas”, however, “his rule suddenly seems untouchable”, Seidel continues. “Bullets and bombs have saved him.”
Reigning over chaos
“No one is saying Netanyahu engineered the current crisis for his own benefit,” says The Telegraph’s Oliphant. And “the crisis is far from an unalloyed boon”, with many Israelis “furious with him over his perceived mishandling of the crisis so far”.
All the same, the Israeli PM “has not made any significant efforts to contain the violence”, says Israeli writer Akiva Eldar on Al Jazeera. Instead, Netanyahu has warned that while his government will “do whatever it takes to restore order and quiet”, the operation against Hamas will “take time”.
“Netanyahu has been fighting for his political life with everything he has got,” Eldar continues. Along with the looming threat of a corruption trial, the Israeli leader “fears” the increasing threat to his power posed by “change bloc” politicians including Yamina’s Bennett, White and Blue Alliance chair Benny Gantz, New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar, Labor Party head Merav Michaeli and Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz.
But as the Israeli military bombards the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas rockets, “Netanyahu’s career has inadvertently been resurrected”, says the Financial Times (FT). “Suddenly, the 71-year-old political veteran who has seen off numerous rivals during his three-decade career, appears to have a fresh chance.”
Aviv Bushinsky, a former aide to Netanyahu, told the newspaper that his former boss “had no cards left to play, and suddenly, he was saved by the bell.
“He’s so lucky, every time.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
June 29 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include the AI genie, Iran saving face, and bad language bombs
-
A tall ship adventure in the Mediterranean
The Week Recommends Sailing aboard this schooner and exploring Portugal, Spain and Monaco is a 'magical' experience
-
How drone warfare works
The Explainer From Ukraine to Iran, it has become clear that unmanned aircraft are rapidly revolutionising modern warfare
-
The armed clan allied with Israel in Gaza
Under the Radar Self-styled 'Popular Forces' has been denounced by its Bedouin tribe and Hamas for 'collaborating' with Israel
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?
today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
Iran nukes program set back months, early intel suggests
Speed Read A Pentagon assessment says US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites only set the program back by months, not years. This contradicts President Donald Trump's claim.
-
Trump says Iran and Israel agreed to ceasefire
Speed Read This followed a night of Israeli airstrikes on Tehran and multiple waves of missiles fired by Iran
-
How developed was Iran's nuclear program and what's left now?
Today's Big Question Israel and the United States have said different things about Iran's capabilities
-
Trump gives himself 2 weeks for Iran decision
Speed Read Trump said he believes negotiations will occur in the near future
-
What would a US strike on Iran mean for the Middle East?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION A precise attack could break Iran's nuclear programme – or pull the US and its allies into a drawn-out war even more damaging than Iraq or Afghanistan
-
US says Trump vetoed Israeli strike on Khamenei
Speed Read This comes as Israel and Iran pushed their conflict into its fourth day