Long before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year, Benjamin Netanyahu had a lot on his plate. Politically his back was to the wall, with Israel riven by mass protests sparked by his far-right coalition’s attempt to push through judicial reforms that many Israelis believed would undermine the country’s democracy.
Fast-forward six months or so and the Israeli prime minister must look back on those days of protests as a comparatively easy ride compared to where he now finds himself.
This weekend, it’s hard to know where to start in listing the threats, challenges and obstacles Israel’s longest-serving leader faces both home and away.
As I write, Netanyahu has been mustering his war cabinet to discuss preparations for responding to any attack by Iran or its proxies in the region.
This Iranian retaliation comes following what was most likely an Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed seven Revolutionary Guards and two of Tehran’s generals.
Then yesterday, violence erupted in the occupied West Bank after dozens of Israeli settlers stormed al-Mughayyir, a village near Ramallah, armed with guns and stones, forcing the Israeli army to intervene and providing Netanyahu with another political headache.
And there are the splits in his war cabinet. Three of its members, including defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkott, are all signalling their intention to challenge him for the prime minister position.
Add to this a rebellious right wing, growing strains with Israel’s key ally the US, an ongoing trial for bribery and fraud, and all of this set against the backdrop of a war in Gaza resulting in international condemnation, and you get some idea of the extent of Netanyahu’s woes.
Above, People attend the funeral procession for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members killed in a strike in Syria, which Iran blamed on Israel
‘F*** you Bibi’
From the very ground up where posters plastered on lampposts and street walls of Israeli cities read “F*** you Bibi,” – a reference to his childhood nickname – to searing remarks made in an interview on Israel’s Channel 12 by Nadav Argaman, former head of the Shin Bet internal security service, the condemnation of Netanyahu is unrelenting.
“Netanyahu is not fit to be prime minister of Israel,” Argaman told the network’s Uvda investigative programme this weekend.
As the Times of Israel reported, Argaman went on to openly blame the prime minister for October 7, saying it was “the worst disaster since the state’s establishment” and was leading Israel to its “doom”.
Calling for swift elections, Argaman, who led Shin Bet between 2016 and 2021, mostly under Netanyahu, argued: “Morally he cannot [run for office again]. He is responsible for a monumental failure. He is responsible.
“There’s no-one else … Someone who does not take responsibility for a failure of this magnitude is not fit to be a leader of the Jewish people.”
More than two-thirds of Israelis now believe Netanyahu should resign, according to polls, with some........