Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's autobiography, published a year before the October 7 Hamas attack, lays out a scenario that bears an eerie resemblance to the events of Israel's deadliest day.
"Hamas intended to surprise Israel by launching a simultaneous incursion of hundreds of terrorists into the country," he wrote of the Palestinian militant group's decade-long plan that prompted Israeli forces to go to war in Gaza in 2014 to prevent such an attack. .
"They planned to enter kindergartens and schools, kill Israelis and take dozens of hostages to Gaza through the tunnels. It could spell disaster”.
However, on October 7 last year, Hamas fighters carried out the plot by raiding southern Israel, with one difference: the hostages were not taken to Gaza through tunnels but through a breached border fence.
A Jan. 2 poll found that only 15 percent of Israelis want Netanyahu to remain in office after the war with Hamas ends
Reuters reports that Israelis are still in shock from the killing of 1.200 people, mostly civilians, and the abduction of 240 of them, including children and the elderly. That attack sparked an Israeli military campaign that killed nearly 24.000 Palestinians.
Stunned by the massive security lapse, many want Netanyahu gone.
A Jan. 2 poll by the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute found that only 15 percent of Israelis want Netanyahu to remain in office after the war with Hamas ends, in line with previous polls that have shown a sharp decline in his popularity.
However, the leader who flaunted the image of "Mr. Security" for years shows no signs of wanting to leave.
“He is defiant. He obviously made a strategic decision to politically survive even this. I think that is an unrealistic goal and sooner or later his colleagues will tell him that his time is up," political analyst Amoc Asa-El told Reuters.
Reuters points out that change seems unlikely in the near term as the conflict in Gaza continues to rage. Netanyahu, meanwhile, promised to wage war until total victory over Hamas.
However, there are signs within Netanyahu's government that some are jockeying for position.
Reports of infighting in the security cabinet leaked to Israeli media and ultra-rightist Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, largely excluded from any war decisions, lashed out at Benny Gantz, a former defense minister who joined Netanyahu's emergency government and war cabinet.
Anti-government protests, which had been held in Israel for almost a year before the attacks, were renewed last Sunday, with calls for elections. However, they are still relatively small compared to the mass demonstrations of 2023.
"It's time for him to go home," says marketing manager Noa Winepress from Tel Aviv. "It was supposed to happen on the eighth of October, and now is definitely the time, after a hundred days."
It seems that even some of Netanyahu's biggest fans have come to terms with the inevitable departure of the leader they still admire, writes Reuters.
"I think he will win the war and retire with dignity," said Yossi Zroja, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party and owner of a restaurant in Ramla. This is where Netanyahu was greeted with a standing ovation of "King Bibi" 15 months ago at an event during the election campaign, where he promised to bring security back to the streets.
Reuters reported that other supporters at the market in Ramla were in a similar mood.
"Netanyahu is a genius. He is not to blame for what happened," said Rafi Kimchi, a diamond merchant who came to visit from nearby Herzliya. “But I think he's done. It is over".
Seeing disillusioned Likud voters, Ben-Gvir could stand aside and leave the government ahead of the campaign, said Asa-El, a researcher at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the popularity of Benny Gantz, who is considered a responsible man of the people, is growing, according to Reuters and reminds that a large number of Likud veterans have long been vying to succeed Netanyahu, including Foreign Minister Israel Katz and MP Yuli Eldestin.
Yossi Cohen, the former head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and a frequent television commentator in recent weeks, is also being mentioned as a successor, with some polls suggesting the party he leads would win about 12 of the 120 Knesset seats.
"Nothing has been ruled out," Cohen said on Jan. 4 for Uvda Television's N12 program. "I haven't decided yet".
Asa-El predicts a "political bang" when the fighting dies down, possibly early elections. "There will be huge demonstrations if the politicians try to delay," he said.
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