At ground zero of October 7, Binyamin Netanyahu draws both derision and devotion

It is a very different Lilach Sheffer-Hadad that is looking out from Kibbutz Be’eri, where she used to live, across a razed and ruined Gaza to the sea. Once she would have described herself as a “leftie”, she says. Now she has a new dream. “I want to build my new house on the beach,” she said. “There — in Gaza.” Most commented 1 Labour splits emerge over scrapping pensions triple lock Politics 1,503 comments 2 It’s coming home! The revelatory Elgar collection gifted to the nation Classical & Opera 59 comments 3 Thomas Tuchel ‘not concerned’ by defence despite 13 goals shipped in six games Football 43 comments 4 Serbian leader Aleksandar Vucic takes a high-stakes election gamble Europe 9 comments 5 Newcastle Red Bulls delay Fehi Fineanganofo’s arrival by a year Rugby union 10 comments For her, voting for Avigdor Lieberman, a hawkish, rabble-rousing former defence minister, would also once have been unthinkable. Now that is her plan for next month’s Israeli elections, already being described as the most important in the country’s history. Israeli soldiers by the body of a Hamas militant in Kibbutz Be’eri after the October 7 attacks Baz Ratner/AP Her choice is a reflection of the upheaval wrought in Israeli politics by the attacks of October 7, 2023, which devastated communities like Be’eri, and the subsequent wars. Top stories 1 The TV anchor who became a king, and the non-league goalkeeper who said no Africa 2 Blue Note London is the stylish new jazz hotspot the capital needs Music 3 Buckingham Palace staff given ‘alcohol awareness’ training Royal family 4 Britain won’t dim sunlight to fight climate change Science Be’eri is one of a string of kibbutzim like Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz and Nirim that are burnt into the collective memories of Israelis, indelibly linked with the Hamas attacks of that day. So long associated with Israel’s liberal left, they are now a portrait of the shift rightwards the Gaza war has hastened. Advertisement In “normal” politics that might have benefited the right-wing coalition led by Binyamin Netanyahu. In fact, the kibbutzim are also a symbol of the divide in the “right” that may yet see him evicted from office. Top stories 1 Six unbeatable Cruise Month deals to book with Times Holidays now Promoted content For some, Netanyahu is the indispensable defender of Israel. Netanyahu on Tuesday said there were “indications” that Israel’s enemies could try to attack ahead of elections scheduled for the end of October, without giving details. “We have indications that ahead of the elections our enemies will try to attack us. So … I am sending you a message: Don’t mess with us, not now and not ever. Our long arm will reach you anywhere, anytime,” Netanyahu said at an air force base, according to a video published by his office. Netanyahu at the UN last week TIMOTHY A CLARY/AFP For others, “Bibi” is the great betrayer, whose personal flaws are closely interlinked with the security failings that led to the October 7 attacks, when Hamas tore down the fence and murdered more than 1,000 people in a day. So for Sheffer-Hadad it is “anyone but Bibi” — anyone who can secure Israel’s safety, at least. Advertisement “I blame Netanyahu for everything,” said Nir Shani, another resident. “It’s amazing that we haven’t rid ourselves of him yet, that democracy is so weak in Israel.” Shani’s son Amit was kidnapped into Gaza from Be’eri. He later returned alive. Amit Shani was released after 54 days in Hamas captivity Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquarters /AP Netanyahu first became prime minister in 1996, and has served three separate terms since. Under Israel’s political system, which relies on coalition-building, he has repeatedly had to reshape the conventional party system to get re-elected. In the past, he has allied with centrists to form governments of national unity. But currently he is ruling with the help of far-right and ultra-orthodox parties that are anathema both to the left and secular right-wing factions like Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, Israel Our Home. Left-wing parties have been squeezed. There is little room for liberal sentiment in modern Israel. Netanyahu’s main challenge now comes from collaboration between the secular right and centrists like Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief of staff. And even with the backlash on the borderlands, polls show it would be unwise to rule Netanyahu out of the running. Advertisement On the northeastern Gaza border lies the non-kibbutz town of Sderot, where a viral video of armed black-clad militants driving around in a white jeep on October 7 tipped off the country that an ambush was afoot. Here Netanyahu has always been and remains deeply popular. An Israeli soldier walks past a truck used by Palestinian militants in Sderot during the October 7 attacks Ohad Zwigenberg/AP “He has done excellent work. He hasn’t finished the job, but that takes time,” said Dudu, a 47-year-old mechanic. “We won’t swallow it any more. The Gazans hate us and we hate them. I will stay with Netanyahu, who knows there can be no peace, until the bitter end.” Many Israelis see Netanyahu’s faults, but nevertheless back the prime minister for his ruthless campaign against the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. Rebuilding at the Sderot house of Mechi Fendel Amnon Gutman FOR THE TIMES “We are lucky to have him,” said Yoav, as he sat in Sderot drinking thick black coffee. “Without him, Sinwar and Nasrallah would still be alive”. Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, and Hassan Nasrallah, chief of Hezbollah, were both killed in the post-October 7 war. Eizenkot and Lieberman represent a form of mainstream politics that could never be described as pro-Palestinian, but seek solutions within Israel’s historic relations with the United States and the West. Netanyahu also faces a growing challenge from further right, with West Bank settlers and their supporters who think he has not gone far enough. Advertisement Mechi Fendel, who is married to a rabbi and an outspoken activist who leads a blockade of aid trucks headed into Gaza, said Jewish settlement was the only way to make Gaza “terrorist free”. Mechi Fendel and her husband who is a rabbi Amnon Gutman FOR THE TIMES “I hope our government will become more right wing,” Fendel, 59, said from her home in Sderot. “Netanyahu visited our yeshiva just before Rosh Hashanah, and it was amazing — he got a standing ovation. His and my husband’s speech both called again for Jewish towns in the Gaza Strip.” Fendel added that she and her husband, Dov, would split their votes between Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet allies, both sanctioned in the West for inciting violence against Palestinians. Fendel wants Netanyahu to stop any international effort to manage Gaza, and even put an end to President Trump’s peace plan to create a riviera on the Palestinian seafront. Designs show a port city with a watercourse bordered by AI -powered high-tech megacities “What are you thinking, that you’re going to make some riviera on the coast? That’s ours. That’s not yours,” said Fendel, who is originally from Staten Island in New York. “You think that anyone except the IDF is going to be here? No one in this city wants or trusts some international force to protect them.” Advertisement As the world waits for the election, and some decisive American intervention, this kind of opposition from within both Israel and Gaza has left the “peace plan” frozen. That leaves an uneasy calm in the kibbutzim like Be’eri that dot Route 232, the artery to Israel’s south that became a “road of death” during the Hamas attacks. In theory, they are being rebuilt. But residents say trust in the future depends on politics. Amit Solvy, 73, who has spearheaded the reconstruction of Be’eri, known as ground zero for the Hamas attack because it suffered the biggest losses of any single village, said he could not see how residents would return if Netanyahu were re-elected. “They know what they get, and it’s more of the same,” he said. For him, Netanyahu’s enduring popularity with some parts of Israeli society is a form of delusion. Amit Solvy, 73, who has spearheaded the reconstruction of Be’eri Amnon Gutman FOR THE TIMES “Bibi is a cult, a king, a god,” he said “It’s not coming from the mind, it’s coming from the stomach. Most of the nation needs a father, they need a god, someone to look up to.” That does not leave an opening to voices more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. “I used to empathise with those across the fence,” Solvy added. “For the people. But the muscles I have for empathy have atrophied. This characterises us all.” Lilach Sheffer-Hadad Amnon Gutman for the times Lilach Sheffer-Hadad is glad that Palestinians who used to live across the border fence have been pushed back, herded into ever-decreasing territories by the Israeli military. Israeli hostage thought British wife and children had survived She is scheduled to move back to Kibbutz Be’eri alongside most of the residents in July next year. She fears the army that protects the Israeli settlements along the Gaza border could be moved on at any moment. “People will be moving back into houses where tragedies happened,” she said. She still avoids walking past her old house, where she hid for hours in the dark on October 7. She said she still heard the screams and shooting in her nightmares. She said she had few expectations for the future. Like Amit Solvy, she only sees folly all around. “I was a happy person. Now I do everything in anger, all of it,” she said. “I don’t have any hope for these elections. The public is stupid and for that we will pay. We already paid, once, but we will pay again.”