Netanyahu’s political woes take back seat as critics unite behind him over Iran
PM also sees surge in polls, with ruling Likud the largest party after strikes in Iran, although coalition would fail by far to get a majority if elections were held today
Israel’s military assault on Iran has united much of the nation after a period of bitter divisions over the government’s judicial overhaul and the war against Hamas in Gaza, transforming the political landscape overnight as even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foes close ranks behind him.
Most Israelis support using force to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, polling shows, despite retaliatory Iranian missile strikes that have killed 24 civilians and put normal life on hold.
“Netanyahu made a really difficult decision. On the topic of Iran, right now he is doing the right thing,” Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman, a hawkish former defense minister who fell out with Netanyahu and quit his government in 2018, told Reuters.
Netanyahu would ultimately be judged on whether Israel succeeded in removing Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, but for now, things were going well, he said.
At a different point of the political spectrum, centrist National Unity party chairman Benny Gantz, who walked out of Netanyahu’s war cabinet a year ago over disagreements about Gaza, was similarly supportive.
“On the Iranian issue, there is no right or left. There is right or wrong. And we are right,” he told broadcaster CNN.
Israel says its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.
Iran has retaliated by launching over 400 missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 wounded.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has repeatedly promised the destruction of Israel, on Wednesday rejected US President Donald Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender and said Israel had made a “huge mistake” in starting the war.
Normal politics suspended
But in Israel, support for Netanyahu’s decision to attack was paying political dividends for him. The main opposition parties in the Knesset on Monday voted against a motion of no confidence in the government.
Just a week ago, only 24 hours before the first strikes on Iran, those same parties voted for the Knesset to dissolve itself, which had it succeeded would have been a first step toward early elections that polls suggest Netanyahu would lose.
“There are those who say Netanyahu chose this time to attack because of the political situation, but that doesn’t interest me. I think this is the right decision,” said Meirav Cohen, a Knesset member from the centrist Yesh Atid party, which leads the official opposition.
Netanyahu’s political rivals and a large portion of the public accuse him of prolonging the war in Gaza in order to placate his hard-right coalition partners who have threatened to bring down the government if he reaches a deal with Hamas, to the detriment of the hostages still held by Hamas and of Israel’s moral standing.
He has also faced widespread opposition and mass protests over the government’s judicial overhaul, which critics charge seeks to undermine democracy.
The war against Hamas began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists launched a massacre, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the security failures that allowed it to happen.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 55,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 433. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.
Likud scores high in poll, but PM could not form a coalition
Netanyahu has been unpopular throughout the war, but a poll released by the Channel 13 news network Wednesday night found his ruling Likud party gaining strength, although his coalition still fell far short of a majority in the Knesset.
According to the survey, which asked respondents which party they would vote for if elections were held today, Netanyahu’s Likud party climbed to 27 seats, from 24 in a poll conducted by the network last week, before the war.
Netanyahu’s coalition bloc received 50 seats in the poll, far short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Opposition parties received 60 seats, and the Arab-led parties 10. Arab majority parties have traditionally shunned coalitions, though the Islamist Ra’am broke that trend when it joined a Bennett-led coalition in 2021-2022.
Likud regained its place as the largest party, the poll said. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s newly formed faction, temporarily named Bennett 2026, dropped from 27 seats to 24, losing the top spot.
As regards other parties, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party fell from nine seats to six, while Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu and Yair Golan’s Democrats party each received 11 seats in the poll. The Haredi Shas party got 10 seats. Lapid’s Yesh Atid, Gantz’s National Unity, and the Haredi UTJ each got seven seats. The Arab-led Hadash-Ta’al faction got six seats, and the Arab Ra’am party led by Mansour Abbas got four. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party and the Arab Balad failed to clear the electoral threshold of 3.25 percent.
Great survivor
On Iran, 83% of Jewish Israelis support his decision to attack, according to a separate poll, by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, conducted on Sunday and Monday.
“In contrast to the ongoing war in Gaza, which is perceived by many of us as a cynical move designed to serve political purposes, the Iranian story is far above any dispute,” wrote columnist Ben Caspit, a fierce Netanyahu critic, in the newspaper Maariv.
Netanyahu, often called the great survivor of Israeli politics after bouncing back from numerous crises and ruthlessly crushing a long list of adversaries, seems to be in an equally conciliatory mood.
Appearing on Tuesday night on Channel 14, a television station that strongly supports him, he was asked about longtime critics now lauding him over Iran.
“I don’t view it as personal. They are rising to the occasion. There really is such a thing. I wouldn’t be cynical about it,” he said. “This is not a political matter. It is an existential matter.”
However, the Hebrew University poll revealed a profound fault line between Israel’s Jewish majority and its Arab minority, who make up about 20% of the population. Only 12% of the latter support the assault on Iran.
Aida Touma-Suleiman, a member of the Knesset from the Arab-majority Hadash party, told Reuters the Iran operation was aggressive and reckless.
“We think this is another disaster that is being inflicted on two people, the Iranian people and the Israeli people,” she said.
The Times of Israel Community.