A little over a month separates us from the date of the Israeli Knesset elections. The available weekly opinion poll results indicate that Netanyahu trails his rival for the premiership, Eisenkot, by several points. His electoral coalition will also fail to secure the majority needed to form a government.
اضافة اعلان
The elections in Israel this time are exceptional, and their results will carry major implications for the region. It is already clear that the far-right coalition currently in power is not positioned to continue after the elections. Netanyahu is searching for a new formula that guarantees him remaining "king," as he is dubbed, in Israel. This does not appear easy or within reach.
The disaster of October 7 haunts him every day, and his opponents are determined to make him bear popular responsibility for the failure. Yet Netanyahu has never been known as a politician who surrenders easily. On his path to election day, he will not hesitate to commit any reckless act that secures him an advantage in the electoral race.
Everything he currently says and does in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria aims to rally the right wing public behind him as the only Israeli leader capable of protecting Israel's security and its regional superiority. In an attempt to move past the failure of October 7, he focuses on placing responsibility on others, while pushing to remind people of his major achievements in the wars with Lebanon and Iran.
Despite this, all the polls suggest that Netanyahu, at best, might succeed only in blocking the opposition from forming a majority qualified to take power. Should that happen, it would be considered a victory for him, granting him the chance to continue governing through a transitional phase, avoid imprisonment in the corruption cases pursuing him through the judiciary, and then contest a new round of elections that might grant him better luck.
Netanyahu's continuation for a new term represents a danger to the region and to Jordan. His rivals in the opposition are no less right wing than he is, but Netanyahu remains different even from the worst of his peers in the Zionist right, particularly with regard to the neighboring Arab states and, of course, the Palestinians.
No rival of Netanyahu possesses the ability to challenge everyone the way he does, and no one else could commit what he has committed in the way of crimes without his own actions bringing him down.
Netanyahu represents an approach with no real equivalent in Israeli political life, perhaps since the establishment of the entity state itself.
He has possessed a project of his own since he first stormed into political life in Israel. Over his long career he faced difficult periods that would have finished off any other politician, yet he returned stronger each time, as he did, to become the longest serving prime minister in Israel's history.
There is a general impression in Western diplomatic circles, which despise both his person and his policies, that Netanyahu this time is on the verge of a final downfall. Even in Washington circles there is a deliberate avoidance of engaging with him during this sensitive electoral phase. He had been eager for Trump's support in the elections, but the American president, who is struggling to preserve his party's majority in the midterm congressional elections, shows, as is evident, no desire to appear alongside Netanyahu. As of this writing, no official confirmation has been issued by the White House regarding a possible meeting between Trump and Netanyahu in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
According to the available information, Netanyahu's visit to New York will be very brief, since it is difficult today to find the leader of any reputable state willing to be seen standing beside someone wanted by international justice and accused of committing acts of genocide.
It is becoming difficult for the world, America, and the countries of the region to bear Netanyahu's continuation for years to come.
