JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s slight but consistent rise in recent polling defies all expectations. In the weeks immediately after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, many predicted that he could never weather the storm created by the greatest security failure in Israel’s history having occurred on his watch.
"Within two months, millions will come to his residence with pitchforks and demand that he resign," a senior figure in former Prime Minister Yair Lapid's centrist Yesh Atid told Al-Monitor at the time, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The National Unity Party, led by former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, assumed that outlook had been the reason for Lapid’s refusal to join the emergency cabinet Netanyahu formed to oversee the war. Gantz joined the war cabinet, citing "national responsibility," and tried in vain to persuade Lapid to follow.
The assessment of Netanyahu’s dim prospects initially seemed a near certainty. Numerous polls conducted in October indicated that support for the ruling Likud had plunged by 50%, along with respondents’ support for Netanyahu’s suitability for his job. The prevailing description of atrocities committed by Hamas' as "an event of biblical magnitude" resulted in Likud voters shifting their alliance to Gantz, attracted by his military and defense credentials and respect for responsibility as shown by his joining the wartime government. Gantz's party polled at 40 Knesset seats (out of 120) at its peak in early March, compared to 16 or 17 seats for Likud.
Netanyahu back on track?
