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Netanyahu fights for political future as Israel heads to polls with Iran threat looming
Confirmed
In Short: Netanyahu's long political career is anchored in his vow to defend Israel against its Iranian nemesis, making him closely identified with the country.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking re-election amid a complex political landscape, with ongoing conflict with Iran and domestic unrest.
Netanyahu's rhetoric around the war against Iran has been extravagant, describing it as 'a fateful campaign for our very existence,' according to a BBC report.
Military officials have reported early signs of strain within Iran's security apparatus, including internal tensions within the Revolutionary Guard and isolated cases of desertion.
Despite these signs, Netanyahu has signaled that the war may end without achieving regime change in Tehran, a goal he has long pursued.
Polls show Netanyahu and his governing coalition slipping in their struggle to retain power, with the opposition bloc gaining ground.
Protests erupted in Tel Aviv on October 24, 2026, with thousands demanding accountability for the failure to prevent the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
President Donald Trump issued a sweeping endorsement of Netanyahu, calling him a 'great warrior' and an 'even greater partner for peace' in the confrontation with Iran.
Netanyahu's government includes politicians with controversial pasts, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was barred from serving in the army due to his involvement in terrorist groups.
Opposition parties are united in their effort to topple Netanyahu but cannot agree on who should replace him or what a future coalition might look like.
What this adds
Netanyahu's campaign is focused on security and his handling of the Iran conflict, which has become a central issue in the election.
What's confirmed
- 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 president has the most influential endorsement in American or international political history,” Vance said during an interview with journalist Mark Halperin.
- Trump directed a Truth Social post to “the Great People of Israel” and called “Bibi” Netanyahu “a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran, with its 51 year old chant, ‘Death to Israel, Death to America. We will destroy the Little Satan and the Big Satan.'” “If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so,” Trump continued.
What's still developing
- The Israeli military's chief of staff has called it "an operation to secure our existence and our future in the land of our forefathers for generations to come".
- "This is the culmination of what [Netanyahu] has tried to rebrand as the War of Redemption, which in his mind started on October 7, 2023. And this is - if not the last war - then the big war against Iran," said Neri Zilber, a journalist based in Tel Aviv and a policy advisor to the Israel Policy Forum, a US think tank.
- One of Netanyahu's former national security advisers has described it as "a golden opportunity to change the direction of the whole Middle East".
- "Benjamin Netanyahu is still selling a major victory," he added, pointing out that Israel had continued talking about the potential for regime change long after the Trump administration had stopped.
- "If we could achieve regime change, that would change the Middle East. But we know our limitations, we're not a superpower, and we have to be humble in our decisions," he said.
- But after assassinating Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei in an air strike, and making repeated calls to the Iranian people to use this moment to rise up, Netanyahu has now signalled the war may end with the regime still in place.
- "Some of it is permanent, and some of it is semi-permanent," said Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), describing the military objective as removing threats "for a prolonged period of time".
- "Hamas still controls roughly half of Gaza. Hezbollah is now putting up a much bigger fight than many people here had been led to believe after the ceasefire in 2024, [and] after last June's war against Iran, Israel and the US are back in an even bigger war against Iran," he said.
- "We can already say with certainty: this is no longer the same Iran, this is no longer the same Middle East, and this is not the same Israel," he said.
- Benjamin Netanyahu has spent decades preparing for this showdown with Iran; his long political career is anchored in his vow to defend Israel against its Iranian nemesis.
- Right-leaning pollsters give an advantage to the right-wing and religious bloc led by Netanyahu, while left-leaning pollsters show an advantage for the so-called change bloc opposing the incumbent.
- Few leaders become so closely identified with their countries as Netanyahu has with Israel, making it more politically acceptable for detractors to direct at him the hatred they harbor toward the country as a whole.