Netanyahu in court of voters for wars without victory

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hopes of staying in power after elections scheduled for this fall have long been dashed, but the US interim deal with Iran has introduced an additional complication.

US President Donald Trump has decided to end the wars with Iran and Lebanon long before Israel's goals were achieved, making Netanyahu's claim from March that we are "changing the face of the Middle East" seem increasingly hollow.

Already facing corruption allegations, domestic political controversies, and criticism for security lapses during Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, he will now face the court of voters over how he has conducted the wars and Israel's relations with the US, its most important ally.

Netanyahu, 76, confirmed this week that he intends to run again in elections that must be called by October.

Opinion polls show his right-wing coalition on track to lose, but in a parliamentary system that he has dominated, intermittently, since the 1990s, few in Israel would completely write him off as someone who can form a new government.

However the election unfolds, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, once dubbed "King Bibi" by supporters, is already the most significant leader in Israel's recent history and the target of immense ire from critics.

Netanyahu's Likud party portrays him as a security hawk who has resisted demands for a Palestinian state while advocating attacks on Israel's enemy Iran and its regional allies.

"There will be no Palestinian state west of the Jordan River," Netanyahu said in 2025, adding: "For years I have prevented the creation of that terrorist state, despite enormous pressure."

His hawkish image has been tarnished by security lapses ahead of Hamas attacks, for which he has not claimed responsibility, and by wars that have brought military successes but not lasting victories. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza and Lebanon, and the death toll among Israeli soldiers is the highest in decades.

Domestic critics claim that Netanyahu has diverted the focus of security forces from the Gaza border and ignored Hamas as the real threat.

While Israelis generally supported the Gaza war, many have turned against Netanyahu's handling of it. Critics who have argued that he lacks a clear strategic plan include some prominent generals and the families of hostages.

The assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were celebrated in Israel. But Hamas still controls much of Gaza, revolutionary theocrats still rule Iran, and Hezbollah has survived in Lebanon.

"Netanyahu lost the war. Netanyahu did not deliver on his promise - in the moment of truth he broke down," opposition leader Yair Lapid said after Trump imposed a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah as part of his deal with Iran.

Netanyahu dismisses such criticism as part of a campaign aimed at diminishing Israel's achievements. Warning of a potential nuclear threat from Iran, he said: "If we had not acted in time and with overwhelming force - we would not be here today."

The destruction of Gaza has sparked accusations of genocide abroad, which Israel rejects, as well as an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Netanyahu on war crimes charges, which he has called absurd.

While he has consistently sought to secure Western support for Israel, he has also angered American presidents and other world leaders. One biographer quoted former US President Joe Biden as privately calling him a "son of a bitch" and a "damn bad guy."

The expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and attacks on Palestinians there have meanwhile prompted international calls to revive the peace process.

The assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were celebrated in Israel. But Hamas still controls much of Gaza, revolutionary theocrats still rule Iran, and Hezbollah has survived in Lebanon.

There is anger on both sides - many Israelis feel Western criticism of their campaign in Gaza after the Hamas attack was unfair. Rival politicians accuse Netanyahu of caving in to US pressure.

However, in the US, his close ties to the Republican Party and attacks on Democrats have contributed to the erosion of decades of bipartisan support among politicians. Support for Israel is declining among voters of both parties.

Trump, the US president he was closest to, called him "f*cking crazy" during a phone call in June.

Born to a distinguished historian, Netanyahu attended school in the United States before joining the same elite commando unit as his older brother, Yoni, who died leading a rescue operation to rescue passengers from a hijacked plane in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976. Netanyahu said the event “changed his life.”

He has proven highly skilled in the harsh world of Israeli politics, relying on the sentiments and political reflexes of his core voter base in working-class towns and Jewish neighborhoods.

He became Israel's youngest prime minister in 1996, rallying a coalition of settlers, security hawks, ultra-Orthodox and pro-business voters. He outlasted many opponents, forming a series of coalitions and ruthlessly rejecting former allies.

Burdened by a corruption trial, Netanyahu won a historic sixth term in 2022, bringing into government a nationalist party with an openly expansionist agenda. Their attempts to weaken the Supreme Court sparked the largest protests in Israeli history in 2023.

Netanyahu sought to build his legacy through the Abraham Accords - 2020 agreements aimed at normalizing or expanding relations with four Arab countries. He hoped to achieve peace with the Arab world without having to accept Palestinian self-determination.

However, the 2023 Hamas attack and the war in Gaza made this impossible, and with Israel's reputation in the West severely damaged, its legacy will now be much more fiercely contested.