Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given Israelis a choice to make in the coming elections: either opt for his leadership and continue to see Israel at war, or be ruled by a non-unified left-wing government.
His statement on X seemed to be a jab at former Chief of the General Staff of Israel Gadi Eisenkot, who is poised to become Mr Netanyahu's key rival in an upcoming October parliamentary vote, as shown in various surveys in Israeli media.
Israel's Channel 13 said 43 per cent of people selected Mr Eisenkot as their next prime minister and just 39 per cent said they would choose Mr Netanyahu.
Mr Eisenkot, who resigned eight months after the October 7, 2023 attacks, is a newcomer to the political scene and became a member of parliament only four years ago. His lack of political savvy and reserved demeanour are starkly at odds with Mr Netanyahu's grand gestures and bluster.
Seeing Mr Eisenkot's rising popularity and capitalising on the goal of “unity”, Mr Netanyahu instead drew an association between his challenger and the head of the Ta'al party, MP Ahmad Tibi, in a video posted on X this month, with the words “there is no Gadi without Tibi”.
Continuing his anti-rival campaign, Mr Netanyahu, who is also running for re-election, said in a long-winded post on Sunday he would establish a government united in the face of external challenges. “We have enough enemies from outside,” he wrote, adding that there are remnants from Iran's allies and proxies that “need to be dealt with”.
Despite waging war for three years on several fronts in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Syria, Mr Netanyahu said Israelis need to find peace “within ourselves”.
Contradictory messaging in Mr Netanyahu's speeches also appears when speaking of unity, but alienating the Palestinian-Israeli population that makes up 20 per cent of society.
Israeli pollster and analyst Dahlia Scheindlin told The National Mr Netanyahu only ever counts Israel's Jewish population in his national narrative. “Us versus them is mostly about 'good Israelis' versus the left,” she said.
Mr Netanyahu's position also reflects a sense he realises the public is “fed up” with far-right ultraorthodox and extreme nationalists such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both of whom have been heavily criticised internally and abroad for their violent, warmongering behaviour towards Palestinians and neighbouring countries such asLebanon.
“[Netanyahu] is effectively laying the groundwork to argue that he is a bridge-builder, start pressuring Gadi Eizenkot (or maybe others) to go into a coalition with Likud after the elections, then accuse the opposition of being divisive rejectionists if they decline,” Ms Scheindlin said.
Anyone who declines Mr Netanyahu's offer, she said, would be seen as a traitor siding with the Palestinian-supporting Arabs and advocating for Israel's demise. “That is a point he has been making for years, more or less aggressively, and he will never stop.”
Despite the frustration with Mr Netanyahu's government, it isn't clear whether one under Mr Eisenkot would be any different. He had opposed Mr Netanyahu's heeding of US demands for a ceasefire in Lebanon, and boasted of using “overwhelming force” during the Dahieh Doctrine, named after Israel’s 2006 destruction of Beirut's suburbs.
Mr Netanyahu, who has been viewed as using Israel's security as a means to stay in power and keep a corruption trial against him at bay, may be falling in popularity, but whether his opponents adopt a similar strategy or opt for diplomacy in the face of a proven track record of military might as a guarantee of political survival remains to be seen.
