Netanyahu faces political reckoning when focus moves beyond immediate conflict

The catastrophe of October 2023 will be Binyamin Netanyahu’s legacy. It is unthinkable that the man who was leading the country when last Saturday’s Hamas attack took place – resulting in the death of more than 1,300 Israelis and the abduction to Gaza of more than 150 – and has been prime minister for the last 14 years almost uninterrupted, will be able to continue as Israel’s leader.

Some commentators are calling on him to resign immediately and hand over the conduct of the Gaza war to others. However, this is a minority view and the overwhelming consensus among Israelis is that now is the time to focus on toppling the Hamas regime in Gaza. The ramifications of the colossal failure surrounding the events on Saturday will have to wait until the end of the military operation.

The results of a poll released on Thursday found that four out of five Jewish Israelis believe the government and Netanyahu are to blame for the Hamas invasion and the killings that followed.

Some 86 per cent of respondents, including 79 per cent of coalition supporters, said the surprise attack from Gaza is a failure of the country’s leadership. A total of 94 per cent believe the government must bear some responsibility for the lack of security preparedness before the assault, with more than 75 per cent saying the government holds most of the responsibility.

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Some 56 per cent said Netanyahu must resign at the end of the war, and 52 per cent of respondents also expect defence minister Yoav Gallant to resign.

A separate poll indicated a seismic political shock: in the event of new elections current coalition parties would only receive 42 seats in the 120-seat Knesset parliament as opposed to 68 for opposition parties.

With a ground offensive in Gaza very close, the Knesset on Thursday endorsed the formation of a unity government for the duration of the war.

The centrist National Unity party led by former top general Benny Gantz agreed to join the government. All other issues, including the controversial plan to change the country’s judicial system, are on hold. Gantz and his party colleague Gadi Eisenkot, another senior general, will join Netanyahu and Gallant in the war cabinet.

“We put all other considerations aside as the fate of our country hangs in the balance,” Netanyahu said.

“This isn’t a political partnership, this is a shared fate. We are lending a shoulder and are enlisting in the war that is being prosecuted by the prime minister and the defence minister,” said Gantz.

The leader of the opposition, former prime minister Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid, refused to join the unity coalition after Netanyahu rejected his call to exclude two far-right ministers, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, from the government.

The unity government will last only for the duration of the conflict. The bad blood between Netanyahu and Gantz remains and will likely never disappear. At the conclusion of the war the National Unity party will return to the opposition and join the call for answers from the political leadership and the military and intelligence echelons.

The commission of inquiry set up after the 1973 Yom Kippur war, when the invasion by the Egyptian and Syrian armies took Israel by surprise, eventually led to the resignation of prime minister Golda Meir.

The trauma of last Saturday is much worse, considering that this time the bulk of the fatalities were civilians, many of whom were left to fend for themselves and were killed in the most horrific circumstances. There is also the fate of the civilians who were seized and are being kept as hostages in various locations across Gaza.

Netanyahu, addressing the Knesset on Thursday, said Saturday will go down as a day of infamy, but he did not accept responsibility and there are already attempts by those close to him to pin the blame on the security establishment.

“In this entire speech, which sounded as if the speaker had no connection to the event, there was not a single word of apology,” noted Sima Kidmon, veteran commentator for the Yediot Aharonot newspaper. “Not a word of recognition of his role in the most dramatic event to take place since the Holocaust, as he put it. Or at least a promise to examine the failures when the battles end. Not one word. As if he hadn’t been there.”