Israelis set to decide whether Netanyahu still deserves to lead after Oct. 7 attacks

TEL AVIV — Should Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be punished for the Oct.7, 2023 terrorist attack — or is he, in fact, the strongest person to protect the Jewish state during its multi-front war?That is perhaps the central issue when Israelis go to the polls on Tuesday for the sixth time in eight years.

Netanyahu is the only Israeli security official who has remained in power following the surprise attack on southern Israel, which left 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage.It also resulted in the Gaza war, a war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and a subsequent wave of anti-Israel protests and rising antisemitism around the world.Critics want to form an Oct.7 commission to examine the government’s failures during the terror attack.

Also at stake is the fate of the draft for Israel’s ultraorthodox community, Jeremy Sultan, a political analyst at Israel’s Central Elections Committee, said in a recent talk with the Brookings Institute think tank.On most major questions of interest outside Israel — the War in Gaza, West Bank settlements, the fate of the Palestinians, Netanyahu’s Likud bloc and the opposition have similar platforms, observers say.Shachar Zafran, 25, who survived the Hamas assault on Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha, said she voted for Netanyahu in the last election but now intends to support former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett — the leader of a major opposition party.“I personally — it’s going to sound a bit crazy — think that Bibi is quite a good leader,” Zafran said.“He had his bad times with Oct.

7, obviously.We can’t ignore it.

But I think we need to change, mainly because most Israelis don’t believe in him, and it’s tearing Israel apart.”Netanyahu and former Israel Defense Forces chief Gadi Eisenkot are the two major contenders to lead Israel’s government.Netanyahu has served as prime minister from 2009 to 2021, and returned again in 2022, with the premier touting himself as the only one who can lead Israel through ...