Fight against Hamas: “Netanyahu only has a few weeks left to win”

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Benjamin Netanyahu (74) is not having an easy time these days. The prime minister was not particularly popular with the Israeli people even before the major Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, due to controversial judicial reforms. His image was further damaged because the secret services and the army largely overlooked the terrorists’ preparations for the attack and national security was obviously not guaranteed on the day of the attack.

The Israelis are angry. Last weekend, demonstrators tried to break into a Netanyahu home. They had previously called for Netanyahu’s resignation. Three demonstrators were arrested. As if that weren’t enough, two of the country’s former prime ministers are now joining the debate about the offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu is running out of time

Ehud Olmert (78), Israeli Prime Minister from April 2006 to March 2009, believes that Netanyahu misjudged the offensive. Netanyahu is on the verge of a “nervous breakdown,” Olmert said in an interview with Politico. “He is emotionally destroyed, that’s for sure,” Olmert noted, before launching into general criticism: “Every minute he is Prime Minister, he is a danger to Israel. I mean it.”

Olmert has little appreciation for Netanyahu’s plan to regain control of the Gaza Strip. “It is not in Israel’s interest to oversee the security of Gaza,” the former head of government said. There is a total lack of planning for a phase after that. Western allies’ patience with Netanyahu is at an end.

The protection of the civilian population is a priority

This view is also shared by Ehud Barak (81), who headed the country’s affairs as prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He assumes that Israel only has a few weeks left to eliminate Hamas. Then public opinion – especially in the US – will change, he also said in an interview with ‘Politico’.

US President Joe Biden (80) pointed out last week the need for a ‘humanitarian pause’. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 61, applied similar pressure this week, urging Netanyahu to prioritize the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Poll numbers on the ground

According to Barak, Western support is increasingly weakening due to the number of civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip and fears of an expansion of the conflict in the Middle East. The calls for a ceasefire are getting louder. “We are losing public opinion in Europe and within a week or two we will start losing governments in Europe,” Barak predicted.

Netanyahu’s numbers have hit record lows since the terrorist attack. With the offensive he tries to change his tarnished image as ‘Mr. Safety’, as Ehud Olmert puts it, ‘needs to be improved.’ He will not be able to ignore the calls for a ceasefire forever. The war in Gaza is increasingly becoming a personal war of nerves for the Israeli prime minister, which could ultimately cost him his office.

Source: Blick