Weathering the storm

Despite deep unpopularity outside his rightwing base, Benjamin Netanyahu continues to use war and political divisions to his advantage

- Peter Beaumont

AT THE BEGINNING of September, the discovery that six Israeli hostages had been killed by their Hamas captors as troops operated near the tunnel where they were being held propelled crowds onto the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities.

The focus of the dismay and anger: the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel's main trade union, the Histadrut, called a short-lived but significant strike. Opposition politicians spoke of their dismay at the prime minister's handling of the hostages-for-ceasefire negotiations he has widely been accused of undermining.

Senior military officers and the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, let it be known in private and in public that they preferred a compromise that would prioritise the release of the remaining hostages over Netanyahu's deal-breaking insistence on keeping military control of the Gaza border area with Egypt.

But despite being deeply unpopular outside his own rightwing base, polling at the end of the month for news outlet Maariv revealed that the Likud party of Netanyahu, which many believed could not survive the fallout of Hamas's surprise attack almost a year ago, would win the largest number of seats if elections were called now.

In the aftermath of Israel's killing of Hassan Nasrallah, analysts expected that trend to continue, at least in the short term. A poll for Channel 12 on 29 September-two days after the assassination of the Hezbollah leader - showed another slight improvement in his standing, although at the expense of other parties in his coalition.

Even before Nasrallah's death, Netanyahu's weathering of all storms was surprising, as Israel's war in Gaza drags on, and fighting on fronts from Lebanon to Yemen has sharply escalated.

On the world stage Netanyahu - and Israel by association - has appeared scorned and isolated.