Six months into one of the deadliest wars in Israel’s existence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political life is hanging by a paradox.
“The loss of trust in him is really prevalent here,” a European official based in Israel observed. “The public … is somehow united over the goals of the war, but the same public lost trust in his capabilities.”
Netanyahu has loomed over Israeli politics since the mid-1990s by developing an image as the Jewish state’s premier security provider. That reputation took a severe blow when Hamas terrorists rampaged across southern Israel on Oct. 7, igniting a conflict that has strained his ability to manage a governing coalition of center and hard-right politicians — demonstrated not least by Israeli opposition leader-turned-war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s recent
