Criticism from various sides: these five stumbling blocks could bring down Netanyahu

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Benjamin Netanyahu (74) is reaping the fruits of his political seeds. And the harvest doesn’t look good at all for the Israeli prime minister. The radical politician’s health is improving since he was released from hospital this weekend (he had to undergo surgery for an abdominal problem). But everything else just explodes in “Bibi’s” ears.

Five developments indicate that Netanyahu’s days in power in Israel are numbered.

Israeli forces killed seven international workers from the World Central Kitchen aid organization in Gaza in a rocket attack on Monday. The fatalities included nationals of Australia, the US, Britain and Poland.

The attack on the convoy of vehicles, which was clearly marked as an aid convoy, led to sharp criticism of the behavior of Israeli forces in the Palestinian coastal area. Netanyahu’s comment that “something like that could happen in a war” did not make matters better.

He must agree to continue the war, which has now left almost 33,000 dead (including, according to Palestinian figures, more than 14,000 children) for purely selfish reasons, to divert attention from his own legal problems. The increasing protests in his own country are becoming a problem for him.

Eleven people, including three senior Iranian generals, were killed in an attack on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian city of Damascus. As usual, Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack. But US sources confirm that Netanyahu’s government was behind the attack. The US officially contacted Iran and said it “knew nothing of the plans”.

Iran, in turn, vows revenge for the attack. “The Zionists must know that this crime will not go unpunished,” President Ebrahim Raisi, 63, told Netanyahu. The Iran-backed Hezbollah rebels have vowed to take revenge. A new war front for Israel is becoming increasingly realistic.

Netanyahu cannot govern without the support of the two ultra-Orthodox parties ‘Shas’ and ‘United Torah Judaism’. The two splinter organizations have 18 seats in parliament. If they turn away from Netanyahu, he will lose his 72-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament and will have to hold new elections.

This is exactly what he is dealing with now, having failed to further protect the ultra-Orthodox from mandatory military service. Until now, special rules applied to all ultra-Orthodox in Israel. Since April 1, however, they have also been subject to general military service in Israel (32 months for men, 24 months for women).

This makes the ‘Haredim’, as the ultra-Orthodox call themselves, extremely angry. 63,000 young men will be directly affected by the new scheme. Their protest grows every day. And with it the risk of new elections.

180 days after the outbreak of war, about a hundred Israeli hostages are still in the hands of Hamas terrorists. Relatives of the abductees have been venting their frustration since Sunday during large demonstrations in front of the parliament in Jerusalem. They accuse Netanyahu of doing too little for political reasons to break negotiations with the hostage takers.

The mouthpiece of the negotiation critics is opposition politician and ex-prime minister Jair Lapid (60). He said on Monday: “Netanyahu only cares about the office and the title. That’s why he lets the whole country burn.”

If Netanyahu fails to achieve a quick breakthrough in negotiations, the growing anger of the hostage family members could seriously damage him politically.

Netanyahu’s government just passed a law allowing Israel’s leadership to block foreign media for 45 days if it poses a “risk to national security.” The law is solely intended to put an end to the Qatar-funded media giant Al-Jazeera.

Netanyahu’s ministers view the broadcaster and its online platforms as a “mouthpiece of Hamas” and can no longer tolerate his criticism of Israel’s war course. The planned ban has not only raised eyebrows among Arab neighbors, but has even led to criticism in the White House. The increasingly authoritarian style of Netanyahu’s forces is not appreciated in Washington.

Source: Blick