Israel-Gaza: will embattled Netanyahu stay the course?
Israel's PM facing 'political reckoning' but betting against him is 'like betting against the house'
As Israel's war against Hamas intensifies, Benjamin Netanyahu is waging a separate battle for his political survival.
Growing public opposition to his handling of the Gaza operation, combined with anger over the security lapses around the 7 October attack that triggered the war, have helped to make Netanyahu the "most hated man in Israel", said Graeme Wood in The Atlantic.
But while the under-pressure prime minister will "have his political reckoning", betting against him is "like betting against the house", Wood added. Netanyahu may prove "too shameless to step down, and too entrenched to be forced into retirement".
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.
What the papers said
In all his cumulative 16 years as prime minister, the longest-serving leader in Israel's history has "never wielded more power" than he does today, said The Telegraph's foreign correspondent Sophia Yan. Netanyahu will decide "how hard Israel pushes the next phase of its war into Gaza" and when to end the operation. And he will decide what "the day after" the war will look like.
Yet Netanyahu’s position "appears increasingly tenuous", said Al Jazeera. Despite his reputation as a security hawk, many Israelis hold him and his cabinet directly responsible for the failures of 7 October, and he has come "under heavy domestic criticism" for his handling of the Gaza conflict.
Even before the war broke out, Netanyahu had long been "bogged down" by corruption charges, the site added, and by leading a fractious far-right coalition whose plans to change the judicial system drew some of the biggest protests in Israel's history.
All the same, said Ben Lynfield in Foreign Policy, with every day that passes, Netanyahu "seems to be a little more determined – and possibly better positioned – to remain in power well after the war is over".
According to Lynfield, a former Arab affairs correspondent at The Jerusalem Post, the PM's strategy "seems to be threefold: to deflect blame for the security lapses that allowed the Hamas attack, keep his governing coalition intact at any cost, and bide his time until he can point to concrete achievements".
This strategy has been blasted by opposition leader Yair Lapid, after Netanyahu reportedly claimed during a closed-door meeting in the Knesset yesterday that the Oslo Accords agreed in the 1990s caused as many deaths as Hamas's 7 October attacks, "though over a longer period".
Lapid wrote on social media that it was "impossible to understand the level of disconnect and cynicism of the prime minister, who is conducting a wicked political campaign during wartime whose entire purpose is to absolve himself of responsibility, to accuse others, and to create hatred".
What next?
In the short term, said Lynfield in Foreign Policy, Netanyahu seems to be benefitting from the axiom that "you don't topple a leader while fighting is under way".
And despite criticism of his handling of the conflict, support for the war appears to be widespread within Israel. The latest Israeli Voice Index, produced by the Israel Democracy Institute think tank, showed 87% of Jewish Israelis backing the resumption of the offensive in Gaza following the recent seven-day ceasefire.
The war also "further delays his three-and-a-half-year-old corruption trial", said Reuters, "and puts off an expected state inquiry into why Israel under his leadership was caught off guard".
Yet as Israeli forces march deeper into southern Gaza, Netanyahu faces a decision that "may have huge political ramifications for his career", said Al Jazeera – whether to send Israeli troops into the 310-mile tunnel network used by Hamas below the coastal territory.
The PM has committed to completely destroying Hamas and may send troops into the tunnels to save his political career, despite the risk to hostages and Israeli soldiers, predicted Nader Hashemi, associate professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown University.
Netanyahu knows that unless he can "eradicate Hamas" and "claim an ultimate victory", Hashemi told the site, "he doesn't have a chance to continue in Israeli politics".
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Elliott Goat is a freelance writer at The Week Digital. A winner of The Independent's Wyn Harness Award, he has been a journalist for over a decade with a focus on human rights, disinformation and elections. He is co-founder and director of Brussels-based investigative NGO Unhack Democracy, which works to support electoral integrity across Europe. A Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow focusing on unions and the Future of Work, Elliott is a founding member of the RSA's Good Work Guild and a contributor to the International State Crime Initiative, an interdisciplinary forum for research, reportage and training on state violence and corruption.
-
5 high-caliber cartoons about Kristi Noem shooting her puppy
Cartoons Artists take on the rainbow bridge, a farm upstate, and more
By The Week US Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why is the world running low on blood?
Podcast Scientists believe universal donor blood is within reach – plus, the row over an immersive D-Day simulation, and an Ozempic faux pas
By The Week Staff Published
-
Rishi Sunak's asylum spat with Ireland explained
In Depth Irish government plans to override court ruling that the UK is unsafe for asylum seekers
By The Week UK Published
-
'A financial windfall for Iranian terrorism'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Turkey halts trade with Israel in latest Gaza rift
Speed Read The country plans to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Xi comes to Europe: what's on the agenda?
The Explainer China's president visiting for first time since 2019, with spotlight on support for Russia over Ukraine and trade tensions with EU
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Box Trump in for real if he pulls another stunt. Put him behind bars.'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
US, Saudis near security deal, with or without Israel
Speed Read The historic pact would offer the Saudis security guarantees and could reshape the Middle East
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Making a police state out of the liberal university'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Netanyahu's Rafah attack vow snarls truce deal
Speed Read Hours before the truce deal was to be finalized, Netanyahu said Israel will invade Rafah regardless
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Can we — the people who have bought so much already — really keep buying more?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published