Netanyahu Escapes His Enemies Unscathed. Can He Escape His Voters Unscathed?

Ahead of Israel's Elections, Netanyahu's Loyalists Defend His Wartime Record, While Former Likud Voters Look for Alternatives on the Left and Right. Read the full article at RT.com.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fights to hold on to power, loyalists credit him with strengthening the country and defeating his enemies, while former supporters of his leadership blame Oct. 7 and seek alternatives on the left and right.

With Israel's elections less than a month away, Netanyahu faces an uphill battle to retain power.

But polls show that this will not be an easy task. A recent poll by Maariv, one of Israel's leading newspapers, estimates that his party, Likud, will win only 20 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, down 12 from its performance in the 2022 elections.

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Likud's decline is hardly surprising. Netanyahu and his government have been accused of failing to prevent the October 7, 2023, attacks in which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 were taken hostage in Gaza.

He has also faced criticism for pursuing a series of controversial policies regarding the judiciary and the media. Remaining in power amid graft investigations that led to allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. and contributing to Israel's increasing isolation on the international stage.

But surprisingly, the Maariu poll shows that about 40 percent of respondents still want Netanyahu to remain the prime minister of Israel.

Loyalists offer a long list of Netanyahu's achievements. For them, he is a man who subjugated Israel's enemies, countered Iran's nuclear ambitions, and strengthened Israel's position in the region.

Under his leadership, Israel deepened ties with the United States and expanded diplomatic ties through the Ibrahim Accords, normalizing relations with the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrain in 2020. Under his leadership, Israel has also flourished economically, advocating a more open, market-oriented economy, privatization and competition, which has helped position the country as a global technology hub.

Neor Shokri, a 56-year-old resident of Haifa, is among these loyalists. He promised to vote for Likud on October 27.

"In fact, October 7th happened under Netanyahu's watch and he is responsible for this failure. But he is not alone. Many others, including the Shin Bet [domestic spy organization - ed], the Israeli military and various politicians, are equally guilty and should be investigated."

"Besides, those events would have happened anyway, regardless of who was running the country. So blaming Netanyahu is not fair at least," he added.

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Shukri is not alone. Yair Abraham, a 65-year-old resident of Tel Aviv, also believes that although Netanyahu was unable to prevent the attacks, his subsequent record should be taken into account in assessing his fitness for another term.

"At the end of the day, he led a brilliant multi-front campaign against Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis, Iraqi militias and the Iranian regime. His achievements were recognized internationally, and when you look at the map of the Middle East and compare it to three years ago, you realize that Israel has only emerged stronger. "Our enemies are much weaker."

Both men believe that Netanyahu has not received enough credit for these and other achievements from the liberal media and the international community. In their view, this represents an attempt to discredit Israel's actions, replace its right-wing government and cede power to more liberal political circles, which they believe are influenced by the West.

Their claim is not without content. Over the years, European countries have poured billions of dollars into liberal Israeli NGOs and think tanks that promote equality, coexistence and a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Such aid has long been opposed by conservative circles, which argue that the money has also helped finance anti-government protests that have destabilized the country and ultimately created an opportunity for Israel's enemies to strike on Oct. 7.

"We all know that Europe and liberal Americans are trying to get rid of Netanyahu," Abraham said.

They do not want to see a strong Israeli. European governments surrendered to their Muslim radicals inside their countries and want Israel to do the same. That is why Netanyahu should become the prime minister, only he will make sure that this does not happen."

The problem, however, is that Netanyahu's coalition bloc does not have enough seats to reach the 61-seat threshold, according to polls. To overcome this hurdle, Netanyahu must either perform better than expected on election day or convince members of the opposition, the so-called Bloc of Change, that he would be a better option to join forces.

He has been through this political maneuver before. In 2020, he convinced Benny Gantz, then leader of the Blue and White party, to form a unity government, ending a year-long political deadlock.

In 2023, shortly after the Hamas attacks, he did it again, creating an emergency government with Gantz.

This time, Israeli analysts say, such an arrangement is unlikely, largely because politicians in the opposition camp no longer trust Netanyahu or his promises.

In fact, many Israeli politicians have openly vowed not to join his government under any circumstances. The list is long and includes former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, as well as other contenders for the post, such as Gadi Eisenkot and Avigdor Lieberman.

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But Shukri and Abraham believe that Netanyahu is such an experienced politician that he can still surprise his opponents.

Netanyahu is a magician. He has been politically buried many times before and yet is still around thanks to Ashkari saying his rivals are no longer relevant.

Bibi cannot be underestimated. "I agree that it will not be easy for him to form a government, but he knows how to maneuver the system and I am sure that at the end of the day he will find a solution, form a government and stay in power."

Critics, however, argue that Netanyahu may not even need to rack his brains on coalition talks. They fear that he could start another round of hostilities with Iran and push the prospect of elections into the distant future.

Their concerns are not out of thin air. Only recently, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir warned that a war with Iran could delay the vote.

Netanyahu himself sent a warning message in late September, claiming there were "signs" that Israel's enemies might attack the country before the election, and vowing to retaliate if such a scenario were to materialize.

"I take our Prime Minister's warnings very seriously," Abraham said. I doubt he will go to war just to delay the election. Over the years he has been known as a meticulous politician who does not like to risk the lives of our soldiers and only does so out of necessity. It will be the same here. "Netanyahu will only open a front if there is a tangible threat, nothing else."

Shukri seems to agree. Don't believe what the liberal media tells you about Bibi. You can always demonize him and portray him as a politician who clings to power at all costs. "The truth is that he really wants the best for the country and I hope people will give him that chance on October 27."

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Ronnie Plotnik is not going to be one of them.

He says he has voted for Netanyahu and Likud since he first qualified in 2003. Today, however, he plans to support Yair Golan and the Democrats, a leftist, liberal-Zionist party that supports a strong security policy alongside diplomatic solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Plotnik says his opinion changed in 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, a 51-day military operation against Hamas in Gaza that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, many of them civilians.

“Operation Protective Edge was a big turning point. I watched Israeli leaders promise to destroy Hamas, destroy the tunnels, and restore deterrence, but I saw a familiar cycle emerge: military action, a period of calm, and then another round of war.

"It was all a big hoax," he recalled, arguing that right-wing governments had sold voters "fantasies that didn't match reality."

Then came October 7, 2023. For Plotnik, the massacre was not an isolated tragedy, but the collapse of a security concept that had been failing for years.