Netanyahu’s political career in trouble over Hamas attack: report

Jerusalem: Israeli government is facing mounting criticism from within the country for ‘dropping the country’s guard’, according to a report by Reuters.

Even days after massacre by Hamas, people vent their anger at authorities with a cabinet minister reportedly being barred from visiting hospital, and coffee was thrown to another’s bodyguards.

A third one had ‘traitor’ and ‘imbecile’ shouted at her for what the report said ‘engulfing’ the nation in a war, the report said.

Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called war on Gaza to pin down on Hamas, all is not well at home in Israel.

An opinion polls now found that 66 percent Israelis wanted ‘someone else’ in power while only 21 percent voted in favour of Netanyahu continuing in power.

Netanyahu, known for long political career with ups and downs, is heading a religious-nationalist coalition whose judicial overhaul caused a social polarization recently.

His government’s failure in forestalling the Hamas attack is reminiscent of Prime Minister Golda Meir’s failure of anticipating a twin Egyptian and Syrian offensive in October 1973, which led her to resign.

The country’s top selling daily Yedioth Ahronoth ran a headline ‘ October 2023 Debacle’ recalling the previous October failure, as per the report.

Amotz Asa-El, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, reportedly said that Netanyahu and his Likud party will have similar fate of Meir’s centre-left Labour party after her fall.

‘He will go, and his entire establishment along with him,’ Reuters quoted Asa-El as saying.

The polls revealed that Likud party will lose a third of its seats if an election were held today.

Netanyahu’s rival Benny Gantz’s National Unity party will expand its position by a third.

The report said that Netanyahu is not appearing in the public much, except visiting relatives of hostages.

The top official of his government including top general, defence minister, national security adviser, foreign minister, finance minister acknowledged failure in preventing Hamas attack.

However, Netanyahu has not yet said anything about ‘personal accountability’, according to the report.