Netanyahu fights for political future as Israel heads to polls with Iran threat looming
Ahead of Israel’s Oct. 27 national vote, President Donald Trump issued a sweeping endorsement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election bid, calling him a "great warrior," an "even greater partner for peace" and an ally in the confrontation with Iran.
The backing could give Israel’s longest-serving prime minister a boost ahead of the country’s first national vote since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. The election is widely viewed in Israel as a referendum on whether to grant Netanyahu another term to pursue his war objectives, including disarming Hamas and Hezbollah and countering the nuclear threat from the Islamic Republic.
In response, Netanyahu thanked Trump for his "extraordinary endorsement." "Together we will never let Iran’s regime get nuclear weapons," he said.
Addressing the endorsement, Doron Spielman, international spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, told Fox News Digital that no personal or professional bond in the history of U.S.-Israel relations compares with the current partnership.
"Israel and the U.S. have stood together as the two countries bearing the torch for the West, and that is a direct result of the incredible relationship between President Trump and Netanyahu," he said.
He reiterated Netanyahu’s long-standing foreign-policy priority and central campaign promise: ensuring that Iran does not acquire atomic bombs under his watch.
"Israel prefers to do this with the U.S., which has been our greatest ally and friend, and who has already entered the front with us twice. But already at the time of Operation Rising Lion, Israel showed that it was willing to act alone. Israel acted for over a week before the U.S. joined," he said, in reference to the June 2025 military mission against Iran.
Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, with roughly 20 years in office, Netanyahu began his diplomatic career in 1982 as deputy chief of mission at Israel’s embassy in Washington, D.C. He served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988 before entering politics with Likud. He became the party’s chairman in 1993 and was first elected premier in 1996.
After losing the 1999 election, Netanyahu returned to government in 2002 as foreign minister and later served as finance minister. He returned to the premiership in 2009, serving until 2021 and again from late 2022. He is widely credited with liberalizing Israel’s economy and helping transform the country into a global high-tech hub.
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Netanyahu’s current political allies include Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit, Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism-Zehut, and the ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism. The newcomer Amcha Yisrael, led by Ofer Winter, could also join the bloc, although Winter is currently feuding with Likud over concerns that his party, which is hovering near the electoral threshold, could split the right-wing vote and potentially "waste" tens of thousands of ballots.
According to most Hebrew-language media polls, neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot currently has a clear path to securing the 61 Knesset seats needed to form a government.
If no candidate can assemble a governing coalition, Israel could head to another election, repeating the cycle of political instability that saw the country hold four national votes between April 2019 and March 2021.
Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, told Fox News Digital that any incoming government will face the same formidable security challenges as the current one, with few prospects for quick victories.
"The major challenge in this election will be what Netanyahu discussed in terms of adjusting the national security concept to prioritize prevention. That means taking very serious, assertive and aggressive military counterterrorism and nonmilitary actions against our enemies," Diker said.
The Israeli left, center and even far-right believe Netanyahu has failed to meet the expectations associated with his image as "Mr. Security," according to professor Tamar Hermann, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute.
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"He promised to topple the Iranian regime, he promised to dismantle Hamas, he promised to crush Hezbollah. None of it was achieved," Hermann told Fox News Digital. "He gave a green light to not punishing vigilantes in the settlements who act against Palestinians. He also gave too much to the ultra-Orthodox parties, giving up on the idea of universal conscription."
Hermann said that Netanyahu’s current term has been his least successful, beginning with the judicial reform push, which triggered mass protests in 2023, and followed by the Palestinian terror attacks on Oct. 7. Netanyahu subsequently faced public anger over his handling of the hostage crisis, although, in coordination with Trump and his envoys, he ultimately secured the return of all the captives.
"In the eyes of some, his legacy will be that he inflicted a huge disaster upon Israel in terms of what happened to civilians on Oct. 7 and the deterioration of Israel’s international image," she said.
Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, framed the upcoming election in terms of legacy and how Netanyahu will be remembered 50 years from now.
"There are two types of leaders: leaders in history and leaders of history," he told Fox News Digital. "There are leaders who go into office and perform as best they can, and there are leaders who go into office and see themselves as transformative, as having a historical role like Abraham Lincoln, Roosevelt or Churchill. Benjamin Netanyahu belongs to this category."
Oren said Netanyahu sees his mission as saving Israel from existential threats, foremost among them Iran, a goal he has yet to achieve.
"He is willing to endure virtually limitless criticism and condemnation around the world, as well as mass demonstrations against him, to fulfill this one role," he said. "To understand that is to understand Benjamin Netanyahu: He is a leader of history."