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Oct. 7 failures plague Netanyahu’s reelection bid

Oct 7, 2026, 6:33pm EDT
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Netanyahu poster
Ammar Awad/Reuters

Israeli elections this month will determine whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the country’s longest-serving leader — has shed the security failures preceding the Oct. 7 attacks.

Three years after Hamas’ deadly assault on the country, Israel stands more internationally isolated than ever: More than 85% of left-identifying voters, and 70% in the center, across Australia, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, and South Korea hold negative views of Israel.

“This spreading political toxicity stands as Netanyahu’s bitter legacy,” a Bloomberg columnist argued. The prime minister’s Likud party is not ahead in most polls, but “what is astonishing — politically, morally, strategically — is that Netanyahu has any chance at all,” The New Yorker’s David Remnick wrote.

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