{"id":276346,"date":"2026-09-03T08:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/276346\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T08:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:15:16","slug":"netanyahu-turns-his-focus-to-his-divided-base-with-eyes-on-reelection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/276346\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu turns his focus to his divided base with eyes on reelection"},"content":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> seeks reelection, his main concern these days isn\u2019t his political rivals. It\u2019s some of his biggest supporters.<\/p>\n

A series of small, pro-Netanyahu parties are competing in the run-up to the Oct. 27 vote<\/a>. But instead of strengthening the Israeli leader, these parties \u2014 including hard-line blocs led by polarizing Cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir<\/a> and Bezalel Smotrich<\/a> \u2014 risk weakening his chances for reelection by splitting the vote among Netanyahu\u2019s base.<\/p>\n

The election is largely a referendum on Netanyahu\u2019s nearly uninterrupted 17-year rule and his handling of a turbulent period marked by mass protests<\/a>, Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attacks<\/a> and nearly three years of war<\/a>. A victory would mark a stirring comeback for the embattled leader, while a loss would likely end the reign of a man who has shaped Israeli politics for three decades.<\/p>\n

With his legacy on the line, Netanyahu is imploring his erstwhile allies to unite into larger parties that have a better chance of entering parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we unite, we win. When we split up, we lose,\u201d Netanyahu told Channel 14, a TV station that serves as an unofficial mouthpiece for the prime minister.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a closer look at Netanyahu\u2019s situation:<\/p>\n

Forming a government is tricky<\/p>\n

Israeli voters choose between political parties, not individual candidates.<\/p>\n

Parties that receive the most votes secure the most seats in the 120-member parliament. But any party that can muster just 3.25% of the vote wins representation. That means that more than a dozen parties can be part of any given parliament.<\/p>\n

No single party has ever captured the parliamentary majority needed to form a government. Instead, a party leader \u2014 usually the head of the largest party \u2014 forms a coalition with smaller partners to secure a 61-seat majority.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu currently heads a coalition of religious and ultranationalist parties<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The outgoing coalition faces an uphill battle<\/p>\n

Opinion polls have indicated that Netanyahu and members of his outgoing coalition are facing broad public unhappiness as they seek reelection.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s popularity has suffered following the Hamas attacks \u2014 the deadliest in Israel\u2019s history \u2014 and the subsequent, inconclusive wars<\/a> in Gaza, Lebanon<\/a> and Iran.<\/p>\n

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Now Netanyahu\u2019s prospects could be further weakened by divisions in his hard-line base.<\/p>\n

Two parties that ran together in the 2022 elections \u2014 Smotrich\u2019s Religious Zionism and Ben-Gvir\u2019s Jewish Power \u2014 have so far rejected Netanyahu\u2019s calls to merge again due to rocky relations between the two men.<\/p>\n

At the same time, smaller parties led by former members of Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party and another list formed by a hard-line retired military general find themselves competing for the same voters. These parties are differentiated more by the personalities of their leaders than their ideologies.<\/p>\n

Falling short of the threshold could be devastating for Netanyahu<\/p>\n

If any of these smaller parties fail to enter parliament, their votes would be lost and Netanyahu\u2019s reelection prospects dimmed. The failure of small parties to cross the threshold contributed to Netanyahu\u2019s defeat in a 2021 election, while rivalries among his opponents led to Netanyahu\u2019s return to power in 2022.<\/p>\n

For this reason, Netanyahu has been urging his ideological brethren to join together into larger blocs. That would require some individual sacrifices but improve their chances of crossing the threshold and being part of another Netanyahu-led government. In a small boost for Netanyahu, one of the small parties agreed Wednesday to be folded into Smotrich\u2019s list.<\/p>\n

The parties have until Sept. 8 to consolidate, pull out of the race or continue on their own. Their decision could seal his fate.<\/p>\n

With time running out, Netanyahu has been stepping up his calls with increasingly alarmist language.<\/p>\n

In his Channel 14 interview, he told a cheering studio audience that only he could defeat Hamas and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. He warned that victory by his opponents, whom he derisively calls \u201cthe left,\u201d would be disastrous for the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe left is ready,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t unite, we will lose.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks reelection, his main concern these days isn\u2019t his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[2371,14188,41,1412,1303,197,1411,37,199,8750,324,81,82],"class_list":["post-276346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","tag-2026-elections","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-bezalel-smotrich","tag-elections","tag-general-news","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-israel-government","tag-itamar-ben-gvir","tag-mideast-wars","tag-politics","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117206117459354303","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}