Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven't yet, sign up here. Benjamin Netanyahu, long known as the great survivor of Israeli politics, may be finally losing his grip. The 74-year-old's failure to prevent the savage Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed 1,400 Israelis and led to the kidnapping of 240 others is putting the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history under rising pressure to quit. Critics accuse Netanyahu and the security establishment of ignoring the Palestinian militant group's ambitions after it became clear that preparations for the cross-border assault took place over a period of years. He effectively undermined the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank in a divide-and-conquer approach, they say. And he allowed the arrival of hundreds of millions of dollars in Qatari aid for Gaza, which may have permitted Hamas to spend intensively on military training. Netanyahu sparked furor this week when he rejected responsibility for the massacre, laying the blame on the security services in a late night social media post that he deleted a few hours later with a rare apology. His opponents went so far as to question Netanyahu's ability to wage the war in the Gaza Strip, which many in Israel see as an existential struggle for the country. At a press conference yesterday, the Israeli leader dismissed the calls for his resignation, vowing to fight "until the battle is won" against Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union. Still, the controversy frayed the wartime unity with opposition leader Benny Gantz, who's joined an emergency government, swiftly demanding Netanyahu retract the criticism. While Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing government successfully faced down months of protests against efforts to weaken the judiciary, his chances of staying in power once the war with Hamas concludes look considerably diminished.— Henry Meyer Anti-Netanyahu stickers on a billboard in Tel Aviv on Oct. 27. Photographer: Yahel Gazit/AFP/Getty Images |
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