Israelis back war that may revive Netanyahu as PM plots early election

The prime minister has long coveted war with Iran, but he knows the offensive comes with a political dimension at home.

- Isabel Coles

People take shelter in Tel Aviv; below, as air-raid sirens warn about incoming Iranian missiles on Friday.

(Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)

As the siren sounded, Tomer and Ortal scooped up their daughters and hurried down to the shelter near their home in Tel Aviv once more.

Two hours earlier, Israel had announced the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a strike on his compound in Tehran, and the country was bracing for a response.

The couple had begun to lose count of the number of times they'd dashed to the shelter since Israel and the US ignited a war with Iran that same morning. Now ballistic missiles were inbound again.

Down in the shelter, the family settled in for the night with the girls, aged two and four. A neighbour offered out shots of Campari, limoncello and gin to celebrate the death of the Iranian cleric who had made the destruction of Israel an article of faith.

“We needed to end it,” said Tomer, 40, with conviction. “It’s a cancer we need to remove.”

The decision by the US and Israel to go to war with Iran has been condemned as a reckless war of choice, with dangerous consequences for the region and beyond. In Israel, however, it has been received with enthusiastic support from politicians, including bitter rivals of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a public that has grown accustomed to war and huge disruption.

Only eight months ago, Netanyahu declared “a historic victory, which will stand for generations” after Israel's first direct confrontation with its arch nemesis, Iran. This time many Israelis don’t want him to stop until the threat is eliminated once and forall. A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 93% of Jewish Israelis support the campaign, dubbed Operation Roaring Lion. Low support among Israel's ‘Arab minority brought the overall figure down to 82%.