TEL AVIV — After three years of navigating war, crisis and global outcry, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing one of the most significant electoral tests of his decades-long political career. As Israelis go to the polls on Tuesday, Netanyahu’s party is neck and neck with former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, who has emerged as his strongest rival in a campaign that has revolved around everything from Israel’s security and military conscription to bread-and-butter issues like the economy. This is the first nationwide election in Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks, the deadliest day in the country’s history.
The attacks, which saw 1,195 people killed and 251 taken into Gaza as hostages, triggered a major security crisis that led to three years of war on multiple fronts. There are few households in Israel that haven’t been affected in some way by the events that have played out since, leaving a sense of profound grief and insecurity that lingers across Israeli society. For most Israelis, the man who has defined the continuing legacy of October 7 is Netanyahu.
Many of his opponents believe he has repeatedly evaded responsibility for the intelligence failures leading up to the attacks and what is widely seen as the security forces’ inadequate response. Bibi, as he’s commonly called, has led Israel for nearly 19 of the past 30 years, with security for many years a core part of his pitch to voters. The 77-year-old has survived political defeats before, only to come back stronger, but a groundswell of opposition could make this one of the most formidable challenges of his political career.
The election is about more than just political survival for Netanyahu — it’s also about his personal freedom. Netanyahu is seeking re-election while also facing long-running criminal cases domestically on charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery, allegations he has dismissed as a politically motivated witch-hunt. His grip on power affords him political privileges that have allowed him to drag out those cases, but that could change if he is voted out of power.
Critics have derisively accused him of running to stay out of jail. Netanyahu goes into the election as both the leading candidate and one of the biggest issues dividing voters. His actions before, during and after the Oct. 7 attacks have driven much of the debate.
Netanyahu’s opponents — particularly his strongest rival, Eisenkot, 66 — have rallied around calls for an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the attacks, which Netanyahu has opposed. Various critics accuse Netanyahu of helping to keep Hamas in power in Gaza in the years before Oct. 7, of prioritizing the fight against Hamas over rescuing Israeli hostages in the wake of the attacks, and of alienating Israel from much of the world with his actions since. Last month, he threatened to sue Israeli newspaper Haaretz over a report that he had been warned about Oct. 7 ahead of time.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
