Israel’s election: A case for continuity

Israel’s election is for Israelis to decide but has profound consequences for Australian Jews.

October 7, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, will shadow the Netanyahu government. Yet any assessment must also recognise the strategic transformation that followed. While October 7 could have happened under any government, no leader could have handled the aftermath with Netanyahu’s combination of experience, resolve and international relationships.

Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s network have been devastated. Sinwar, Nasrallah and Khamenei are gone. Gaza has not fired a rocket in over a year. The successful pager operation has Lebanon now discussing Hezbollah’s disarmament and possible peace. Assad’s fall transformed Syria. Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure is crippled. Most significantly, every Israeli hostage, living or deceased, has returned.

Netanyahu was laser-focused on Iran and masterfully escalated the confrontation to its source, despite extraordinary international pressure. He defied Biden’s opposition to entering Rafah where Sinwar was hiding and hostages were held. It’s hard to imagine less-experienced leadership withstanding this pressure. Many opposition figures wanted to stop the war at every turn and sign premature ceasefires. Nasrallah and Sinwar would still be alive, and Iran’s nuclear program would be hanging over Israel’s head.

The left blames Netanyahu for October 7, citing his failure to launch pre-emptive war and permission for Qatari aid. That hardly justifies electing opposition parties which advocated even greater appeasement. The opposition’s only viable path requires cooperation with Islamist party Ra’am, a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot. Democrats leader Yair Golan accused Israel of “killing babies as a hobby” and compared developments in Israel to Nazi Germany.