Israel’s Netanyahu to seek re-election despite Trump doubts, war strains

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek re-election in Israel’s upcoming national vote, his Likud party announced Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump publicly questioned whether the 76-year-old would run.

Netanyahu, who is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has led his country through three years of war, and is currently on trial for corruption.

In recent months, he has faced mounting criticism from opposition leaders who accuse him of failing to achieve the war aims he set out following Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu will run in the next elections and, God Willing, he will win,” Netanyahu’s Likud party announced on Telegram.

The declaration came after Trump told ABC News he was uncertain about Netanyahu’s intentions.

“I don’t know, he’s had an amazing career. Does he want to continue?” Trump said. “Because, you know, he’s a wartime prime minister.”

Netanyahu had previously said he would stand for re-election in the vote, scheduled to be held by late October. He has served as prime minister for nearly two decades across multiple terms.

Trump’s remarks followed a tense exchange between the two leaders days earlier, in which the US president berated his close ally in a profanity-laced outburst.

Netanyahu, for his part, downplayed the exchange in an appearance on CNBC.

The Israeli leader’s political future has been clouded by strains in relations with Washington and sustained criticism from domestic opponents over his handling of multiple conflicts.

Netanyahu is currently waging wars on three interconnected fronts.

In Gaza, Israel is continuing military operations against Hamas despite a formal ceasefire in the Palestinian territory since October last year.

In Lebanon, it is pursuing a campaign against the Iran-backed movement Hezbollah.

And in Iran, Israel joined its ally the US in launching a wave of attacks that killed much of the country’s leadership and triggered a war that has spread across the region.

– Severe criticisms –

Opposition figures have increasingly challenged Netanyahu’s wartime leadership.

Yair Lapid, Israel’s main opposition leader, described the government’s decision in April to agree to a ceasefire with Iran as a “political disaster”.

Critics argue that Netanyahu repeatedly set ambitious military objectives but failed to translate battlefield gains into clear strategic outcomes.

While Netanyahu has highlighted operations against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran as major successes, opponents contend that military achievements have not produced lasting political or security results.

They argue that the government repeatedly declared progress toward goals such as destroying Hamas, neutralising Hezbollah and containing Iran, without fully achieving those objectives.

A poll published Tuesday by the independent Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) found that 61 percent of Israelis, including 57 percent of Jewish Israelis, believe Netanyahu should not stand for re-election.

Netanyahu’s relationship with Trump has also come under scrutiny.

US media reports this week said Trump warned the Israeli leader that he might have to fight his own battles if Israel continued carrying out strikes on Iran.

Netanyahu has also battled a recent series of health issues.

Earlier this year, he disclosed that surgeons had successfully removed what he described as a “small, early-stage malignant tumour” from his prostate.

Netanyahu has been admitted to hospital several times since returning to office in December 2022, according to his office.

In March 2024, he underwent hernia surgery, before having the operation on his enlarged prostate in December of the same year.

In July 2023, less than three months before the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack on Israel, Netanyahu had a pacemaker implanted after a brief hospitalisation following complaints of dizziness.

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