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Benjamin Netanyahu Faces Decisive Israel Elections Amid Gaza War And Iran Strike Fears
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Israel heads to decisive elections on October 27 amid Gaza war and Oct 7 attacks. Netanyahu's Likud campaign uses 'Right or Palestine' while polls show a tight race.
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Netanyahu seeks unity
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading into Israel’s elections on the upcoming 27th with a campaign slogan that says “Right or Palestine,” and El País ties the message to Likud and Netanyahu’s aim to increase the 19 years he has spent in power. El País says polls leave Netanyahu’s bloc and Jewish opposition parties far from a majority, and the paper links the stalemate to promises by almost all Jewish opposition parties to exclude the two Arab lists from any possible government. El País reports that opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman accused this Friday the bloc’s most powerful candidate, Gadi Eizenkot, of preparing an alliance with Netanyahu after the elections.
Eizenkot said this Tuesday on military radio, “We are working so that Yashar is significantly larger than Likud and to guarantee that the bloc has a majority.” El País adds that President Isaac Herzog grants the initiative to form a government to the person he sees as having the best chances, while Herzog prefers a stable national unity government and has said he will do “everything” to prevent a repeat election.
Obama-Netanyahu clash
Sama News Agency says differences between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former U.S. President Barack Obama resurfaced just days before Israel’s legislative elections on October 27, with results appearing tight.
Sama News Agency quotes Obama saying, “I told Netanyahu this directly when I was president: at some point, and in order to break this cycle, the party with the greater power bears responsibility by virtue of its power.”
Sama News Agency says Obama also criticized Hamas for its attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and it reports Netanyahu replied by posting a video clip calling Obama’s remarks “regrettable.”
Sama News Agency quotes Netanyahu saying, “The Jewish people are not foreigners occupying the land of my ancestors. Our history is not a colonial project, and our land is not stolen.”
Hamas timeline and Gaza
Infonoa Salta reports that Gadi Eisenkot, the ex-chief of the Army and main political rival of Benjamin Netanyahu, promised to eradicate Hamas’ control of the Gaza Strip within a maximum of 18 months if he comes to power. Eisenkot clarified that he will keep his word through the peace plan proposed by Donald Trump or through direct military operations, and it adds that he proposed designing a plan to dismantle Hamas’ government in the first 150 days of his term.
Israeli troops maintain control over 65% of the territory and attacks continue daily, while the situation in Gaza remains stalled even after Israel and Hamas agreed to move forward in the first phase of the American plan. Infonoa Salta reports that Eisenkot set conditions for possible allies, including requiring recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization that must disappear, and it says his proposal rekindles debate about the region’s true political and operational future.