Recent polls in Israeli media indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party is slowly regaining support, while Benny Gantz's National Union is losing momentum. One survey suggests that Netanyahu's coalition would secure 59 mandates, just two seats shy of its current number of 61. Netanyahu is also shown as the preferred candidate for prime minister in matchups with Gantz and Yair Lapid. However, other polls present different results, with fluctuations in support for both parties and minor changes in the perception of suitability for prime minister.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial has resumed despite the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu, who is accused of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, denies the allegations, claiming they are politically motivated. The trial, which is expected to last several more months, involves three cases, including allegations of exchanging regulatory favors for positive media coverage and receiving gifts in exchange for financial or personal favors. Netanyahu is Israel's first sitting prime minister to stand trial, and his lawyers argue that he had a right to accept gifts from close friends.
Members of Israel's ruling Likud party, which now controls Israel's far-right coalition government, reportedly planned to assassinate former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970s due to their dissatisfaction with his diplomacy during the Arab-Israeli War. Kissinger's efforts at statesmanship obstructed long-term solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and he prioritized American interests over the Israeli state and Jewish people. Despite past animosity, Likud is now led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has adopted a similar approach of using conflict to maintain power.
A mass right-wing protest in support of the government's plan to weaken judicial checks on political power highlights the deepening divide between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his justice minister and longtime confidant, Yariv Levin. Netanyahu's decision to pause the reform legislation until the next Knesset session to allow time for dialogue with the opposition is seemingly weighing a different tack. Meanwhile, Levin is determined to push his judicial agenda, especially seizing political control over judicial appointments. The protest was a call aimed at Netanyahu himself, issued by the more hardline flank of his own coalition.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plan has led to a sharp decline in his popularity and public support for his party, with polls suggesting that if elections were held today, his coalition would see an unprecedented defeat. Many inside Likud have expressed concern that the judicial overhaul has become a threat to the party staying in power. Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz has emerged as one of the biggest winners of the last three months, with many moderate Likud voters switching their support to his center-right party.
Pressure is mounting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pause a controversial judicial overhaul, with dissent from his own party and cabinet compounding months of mass protests by Israelis who fear the reforms could endanger court independence. A key bill giving his religious-nationalist coalition more control over the appointment of judges is expected to be ratified this week in the Knesset, where he and his allies wield 64 out of 120 seats. However, Likud dissenters have called for a pause to enable discussion and revisions, with the possibility that the government's parliamentary majority could be eroded.
