Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been in power longer than any other Israeli prime minister. Photo: Reuters
Netanyahu would still be prime minister, but the question is whether he will be
“God willing, he will win.” This is how the Likud party announced the re-candidacy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the October parliamentary elections and his desire to lead the Israeli government once more.
A few days ago, the American president Donald Trump publicly asked if he would be the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu also participated in this year’s parliamentary elections. He was speaking days after calling him a “lunatic” over the Israeli military’s renewed orders to residents of south Beirut to vacate their homes ahead of impending attacks. Israel’s intentions at that time made it difficult to complete the American-Iranian negotiations on the end of the war. Now it is known what he is planning regarding the political future of his closest ally in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek another term as prime minister in the October elections. Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, who led the country through three years of war, does not want to give up. He is currently on trial for corruption and is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza.
His Likud party announced today that Prime Minister Netanyahu will run again in the next parliamentary elections. “If God gives, he will win,” Likud announced about the plans of the 76-year-old leader, who spent a total of eighteen years at the head of Israeli governments in three different periods. With his reigns from 1996-1999, 2009-2021 and from 2022 to the present, he surpassed all previous Israeli prime ministers.
According to one of the latest opinion polls, 61 percent of Israelis believe that Netanyahu should retire. According to opinion polls, his Likud is not expected to win the next election, and the question is whether he will be able to form a government coalition. Doubts about his suitability are raised not only by his political stance, but also increasingly by his fragile state of health. He has had a pacemaker inserted for three years. He had a hernia operation in March 2024, followed by an operation for an enlarged prostate in December of the same year.
