Netanyahu Faces Fight of His Life as Israel Heads to Polls

Jerusalem (GNP): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing the toughest test of his political career in Tuesday’s election. He is trying to persuade Israelis that he remains the only leader who can keep them safe.

That claim has been under strain since Hamas carried out its attack on October 7, 2023. The 77-year-old built his reputation on security, and the failure to prevent the assault badly damaged it.

His main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, has turned public anger over that failure into a serious campaign. Polls show the two men running neck and neck. They also suggest Netanyahu is unlikely to form a government on his own.

Netanyahu is answering with a campaign built on fear and loyalty. He is highlighting an endorsement from United States President Donald Trump, which came 10 days before the vote. He is also warning that hostile powers want him to lose.

He has put the prospect of a Palestinian state at the centre of his message, noting that most Israelis oppose it. Posters across the country carry a single slogan that presents the choice as the Right or Palestine.

The same argument shapes how he talks about the war record. Netanyahu points to the blows dealt to Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and their backer Iran, which Israel has attacked in two wars. He says these campaigns have changed the face of the Middle East.

Events last week reinforced that message. After two Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian gunmen near Hebron, he launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank and vowed to pursue Hamas everywhere.

Away from the campaign trail, however, he carries heavy legal burdens. An international arrest warrant has been issued over alleged war crimes in Gaza, and a long-running corruption trial continues at home. A multi-front conflict has now dragged on for three years.

His worldview has deep roots. Born in Tel Aviv on October 21, 1949, Netanyahu inherited his politics from his father Benzion, a former aide to Zeev Jabotinsky, whose Revisionist current of Zionism backs a Greater Israel.

He opposed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process of the 1990s and later helped to bury it, even though a two-state solution was its ultimate goal. Today he supports annexing parts of the occupied West Bank and promotes settlement growth, which is illegal under international law.

His career also shaped his image. He served in a commando unit and fought in the 1973 war, and his elder brother Yonatan was killed leading the Entebbe hostage-rescue mission. Raised partly in the United States, he became one of Israel’s most recognisable voices abroad.

He entered parliament in 1988 and took over the Likud party in 1993. In 1996, after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, he won a narrow upset victory at 46 to become Israel’s youngest prime minister.

He led the government from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He returned to power in late 2022 with a coalition that includes once-shunned extremists. Through the years he has defied repeated predictions of his political downfall.

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His supporters say he met Israel’s darkest hour with unprecedented military resolve and confronted Tehran directly, which none of his predecessors had done. His critics argue that he has trapped the country in intractable conflicts and left it isolated on the world stage.

That isolation is a growing part of the debate. His government faces international criticism over the death toll in Gaza, limits on humanitarian aid, repeated clashes with the United Nations and the expansion of settlements. Israel’s attacks on Iran have also widened regional instability.

For Palestinians in Gaza, the war has meant widespread destruction, mass displacement and severe humanitarian suffering. Critics now ask whether military dominance has brought lasting security or has instead deepened the cycle of violence and weakened prospects for a political settlement.

Eisenkot said, “He spreads hatred, fear and portrays his rivals as enemies of Israel.”