Showing no let-up in policies despite polls

Israel's problematic election means that unless the situation changes, incumbent Binyamin Netanyahu could remain in office until Israel returns to elections next year despite the dangerous policies he has pursued. These include joining Donald Trump in an attack on Iran which has retaliated against its Gulf neighbours, waging a never-ending-war on Gaza, unleashing violent settlers in the West Bank, and alienating many of Israel's Western friends.

Instead of regarding as a victory his temporary survival — although his bloc won only 53 seats rather than the 61 needed to form a government — he has railed against rivals, opponents and "Arabs." He is furious that Palestinian parties boosted their seats in the Knesset from 10 to 19. Rather than conducting negotiations on a new coalition, he has launched another campaign ahead of a potential fresh election when he believes his Likud bloc could secure the majority of seats.

Observers have suggested a new election could have the same result as Israel remains a deeply divided country and its politics reflect these divisions. Meanwhile neither left nor right are prepared to form a coalition with either or both Palestinian parties as they are neither Zionist nor Jewish and Israel is defined as a "Jewish state" by the founding Zionist movement. It excludes the 20 per cent of Israeli citizens who are Palestinians although they have representation in the legislature, own property, and pay taxes although unlike Israeli Jews they do not serve in the army.

Netanyahu's call for a new election in several months time compels Israelis to recall that the length of an Israeli government averaged about 1.2 years from 1948 and that the outgoing government, elected in 2022, was the first since 1988 to last through a full four-year term. Netanyahu could be suffering from a pipe dream. Most Jewish Israelis have had enough of "forever-prime-minister" Netanyahu and want change. This is why they did not vote for his Likud party this time around. As Israel's longest-serving prime minister, he has held this office from 1996 to 1999, 2009 to 2021 and since 2022. He personally is the target. Israel changed its election rules in 1996 so that the prime minister could be elected in a separate ballot from legislators.

Born in October 1949, Netanyahu grew up in West Jerusalem and the US. The trajectory of his life has determined his character and career as a hardliner. In 1967, the year of the Egypt-Israel war, he retuned to Israel from the US and joined the Israeli army's special forces. In 1972, he enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and after graduation he worked for the Boston Consulting Group. In 1978, Netanyahu returned to Israel and founded The Jonathan Institute, named for his elder brother Lt. Colonel Jonathan Netanyahu.

He was killed while leading the 1976 Entebbe hostage rescue mission in Uganda after the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)) seized an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris via Athens. The hijackers released non-Jewish and non-Israeli passengers and held onto 106 with the aim of securing the release of 53 imprisoned Palestinian and international militants. Israeli commandos freed 104 hostages and the flight crew while three were killed.

Between 1984 and 1988, Binyamin Netanyahu served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations and in 1993 was elected to lead the opposition Likud. In the 1999 election, Netanyahu was ousted but subsequently served as minister of foreign affairs and finance, before resigning over Ariel Sharon's 2005 disengagement from Gaza. Netanyahu returned to Likud in 2005 and led the opposition until 2009.

On the external level, Netanyahu has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity over Gaza and in 2024 the International Criminal Court issued warrants for his arrest along with ex-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu became the first leader of a Western-backed democratic country to face warrants for his arrest for war crimes. Consequently, he has been prevented from travelling to many countries.

On the domestic level, he was investigated, charged and tried for fraud, breach of trust and bribery. He completed his testimony in June 2026; so far there is no verdict. He and his supporters want to stall and 11 months ago asked Israeli President Isaak Herzog to grant Netanyahu a pardon. This request was supported by Donald Trump. However, it is nearly impossible unless Netanyahu has been convicted and sentenced. Presidential pardons have with one exception not been granted before conviction. Consequently, Julian Borger wrote in the Guardian almost year ago, "A pardon of a politician in a corruption case without an admission of guilt would be precedent-setting and highly controversial." Netanyahu has to consider the example of ex-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who served two terms in office from 2005-2009. He resigned in 2008 due to negative approval ratings and an ongoing corruption investigation. After leaving office, he was sentenced to six years in prison in 2014 for accepting bribes and for obstruction of justice while Jerusalem mayor and trade minister. He was released on parole in July 2017. A dozen ministers and ex-ministers have also been accused of various crimes, and several have been tried and sentenced. Some paid fines or preformed community service, and a few did prison time.