Anti-government protesters gathered in Jerusalem on Tuesday for a four-day sit-in.
Jerusalem:
Benjamin Netanyahu is the Houdini of Israeli politics and Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, having been written off several times before.
But with thousands of protesters taking to the streets every night this week calling for his resignation, and growing anger over his handling of the war in Gaza, many are wondering how much longer the veteran political escapist can survive. .
Netanyahu, 74, is always upbeat but appears physically and politically fragile.
Deeply unpopular — less than four percent of Israelis trust him, according to a poll late last year — the war in Gaza is taking its toll on the man Israelis know as Bibi.
He appeared visibly weak, sallow, grumpy and distraught in a televised address on Saturday that his former minister and Likud colleague Limol Livnat called “disastrous”.
The left-wing daily Haaretz said he “looked like a frightened tyrant”.
Netanyahu emerged from hospital in Jerusalem on Tuesday emaciated after undergoing hernia surgery on Tuesday, but he has been forced to face international wrath after an Israeli attack killed seven aid workers from a U.S. organization in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s wit: “This kind of thing happens in war.” The situation may not be understood by the White House, which said it was “heartbroken” by the deaths.
“Netanyahu has been politically buried and resurrected many times before,” said political science professor Emmanuel Navon, a former Likud member.
“But this time it’s different because October 7th. It’s not the same country. For Bibi, it’s all over.”
“He is 74 years old, does no exercise, works very hard and had a pacemaker installed six months ago.”
– Blame blamed for October 7 ‘disaster’ –
But Navon doubts Netanyahu will be forced out by a new wave of massive street protests, despite the anger of the hostages’ families.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of one of the 134 people still imprisoned in Gaza, called him “the pharaoh, the killer of the eldest son” during a rally outside the parliament in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, the fourth in a row. Protests took place late at night.
They saw the hostage families unite with anti-government demonstrators who spent nine months on the streets last year trying to block controversial judicial reforms pushed by Netanyahu’s far-right allies.
The “disaster” of October 7th might have killed any other politician. But Navon compared Netanyahu’s control of the ruling Likud party to Donald Trump’s control of the US Republican Party.
“Likud lawmakers are shocked to be punished in the next primaries by the all-deciding ‘threesome’ – Bibi, his wife and son,” said the Tel Aviv University professor.
“The political life of the people depends on him. He has surfed populism and his candidates are now often conspiracy-theory lunatics. This is not the same party 20 years ago.”
– Divide and conquer –
As his coalition spirals into crisis, enemies appear to be surrounding the leader of the most right-wing government Israel has ever seen as never before.
Protesters on Tuesday tried to break through police barriers to enter his home for the second time in four days as prosecutors pressed ahead with his corruption trial despite the war.
Even his defense minister, Yoav Galant, a staunch Likud supporter, is fighting him over the deeply divisive issue of ultra-Orthodox Jews evading compulsory military service, even as the Gaza war rages on with Iran Another war is also about to break out for the Lebanese Hezbollah-backed group.
Netanyahu has long relied on support from religious parties to govern.
“It is inexcusable to forgive an entire community when the army needs so much manpower,” Gen. Reuven Benkler told AFP at an anti-government rally on Monday.
The 65-year-old returned to serve in the north after Hamas attacks killed 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
According to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, Israeli retaliation has killed at least 32,916 people, mostly women and children.
“The hostages are not going home while Bibi is still in power,” Benkler said, adding that Netanyahu was stalling the war in Gaza to prolong his rule – a claim repeated at the protests.
“He didn’t care about anyone but himself.”
Navon said Netanyahu’s three-decade control of Israeli politics was based on divide and rule. On October 7, he undermined that claim by claiming that only he could guarantee the country’s security.
The analyst said his promise of a 2026 election was “delusional.” “But the demands the protesters are making now are also unrealistic. The war in Gaza and the north is more likely to be won by the end of the year,” he added.
Zangok, the mother of the hostages, accused Netanyahu of letting Israel off its guard on Tuesday night, declaring at a massive protest that drew thunderous cheers: “This is all your fault — on your watch, 240 people were kidnapped.”
“You nurtured and raised Hamas,” she added, but “you call us traitors (for protesting during the war) when you are traitors.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
