As Israelis head to the polls for the first national election since the October 7 attacks, international media coverage has centered largely on the growing challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the centrist Yashar party (read our profile of Eisenkot here), has emerged as his main contender. Yet amid the attention on Netanyahu’s challengers, much of the coverage’s presumption that his time in power will soon be over, and the vociferous international criticism of the Israeli prime minister, one perspective has been harder to come by here in the United States: the affirmative case for Netanyahu. Today we bring you exactly that, courtesy of Israeli historian and author Gadi Taub, who also offers his view on what will happen after the polls close in Israel. —The Editors
To the naked eye, the Israeli election looks like it is about a single person: The right is going to vote for Benjamin Netanyahu, while the left—rather than voting for Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Liberman, or Yair Golan—is going to vote against Netanyahu.
In some ways, that’s true—but not because the drama is personal. Rather, Israel is facing a choice between two visions of its future: one personified by Netanyahu’s continued leadership, and the other by his removal. It would do well to opt for the former.
Let me explain.
Israel has now passed three years of war, and much of Tuesday’s elections concern the beginning of that war: October 7, 2023. One of the most potent criticisms of Netanyahu is that this traumatic day happened on his watch. That’s true. But it’s far less important that it happened than what Netanyahu did in its aftermath.