Netanyahu enters campaign mode, claiming he saved Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel — Two years ago, after Hamas killed and kidnapped its way across southern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed finished. “Mr. Security,” as he billed himself, would either resign in shame or be driven out by a devastated public.

Yet this week he promoted his candidacy in next year’s election by saying he had saved the nation from oblivion with a slew of military successes against Iran and its proxy militias. Between those and a fractured opposition, it’s looking like the country’s longest-serving leader may hold onto his post for a while longer.

“He doesn’t need to win the next election, just not to lose it,” said Nadav Shtrauchler, a political adviser who has worked closely with Netanyahu in the past, referring to the possibility of remaining in power without a majority. “He’s still there, astounding observers, whether they’re impressed or frustrated.”

Netanyahu, who has clocked 17 nonconsecutive years at the top, outpolls all other candidates for the job. And while surveys show that his coalition — the most right-wing in Israel’s history — won’t attract enough votes to form the next government, neither will the opposition.

When the election is held — it’s scheduled by next October — the country risks a repeat of the years 2019-2022, when it was dragged through five ballots while a transitional government with limited authority ran the country. Apart from 18 months of that period, Netanyahu held power.

This week, Netanyahu told parliament that what he has accomplished in the two years since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, especially by bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, ensures unprecedented national safety.

If his opponents were in charge, he said, “you members of Knesset, all citizens of Israel without exception — Jews, Arabs, leftists, rightists, ultra-Orthodox, secularists — would all go up in atomic smoke.”

A day earlier, he announced that Israel’s battles against Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Houthis of Yemen, and their sponsor Iran — alongside the collapse of former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime — had so boosted the country’s strategic position since 2023 that he’s renaming them the “War of Redemption.”

For his critics, who are legion in Israel and abroad, this seems beyond belief. He was in charge on Oct. 7, 2023, the day of Hamas’ terrorist attack and the worst single day in the Jewish state’s history. Indicted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza, on trial in Tel Aviv over bribery and fraud allegations, Netanyahu, 76, who denies all the accusations, should be at his political end point.

Sever Plocker, a long-standing commentator at the centrist Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, wrote last week what many believe — that unless Netanyahu is replaced the country can’t move on. Netanyahu, Plocker wrote, is “one of the most hated statesmen in the world” and “Israel today is more isolated than ever before.”

While Netanyahu got a shot in the arm after the remaining living hostages were released from Gaza, not everyone lays the win at his feet.

Trump’s son-in-law and confidant, Jared Kushner, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff spoke to families in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square as exchanges took place. They were hailed for their role in securing the deal, but Witkoff was met with jeers when he tried to credit the Israeli prime minister.

Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza alienated many around the world. That derailed Israel’s hopes for the normalization of ties with more Arab and Muslim countries — a strategic goal at home and in the U.S.

President Donald Trump hopes to persuade Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to recognize Israel and join the so-called Abraham Accords — one of Trump’s flagship achievements in his first term. The kingdom’s de-facto ruler has held off. Publicly, he has set an independent Palestinian state as a precondition — an idea opposed by Netanyahu and his coalition partners.

The Trump administration is pushing Netanyahu to be patient about Gaza and not return to war.