Israel: Who are the candidates that might successes Netanyahu?

In Israel, experts and observers believe that Netanyahu’s political future has already ended, and that leaving his position is a matter of time related to the circumstances of the war, especially with the continued failure of the military operation in the Gaza Strip to achieve its goals, and the faltering negotiations regarding the hostages with Hamas, while a number of names emerge that appear to be strong competitors to lead the government to succeed him.

The first name that came, is Yossi Cohen, the former head of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service.

According to an opinion poll conducted by the Israeli Maariv newspaper, Yossi Cohen received the highest percentage of support for the leading the ruling Likud Party, at 21%, while Minister Gideon Saar, who left Likud and allied with Benny Gantz, received 13%.

Then the rest of the Likud leaders came in, such as Defense Minister Yoav Galant with 12%, then Nir Barkat with 11%.

Observers explain the progress of leaders from outside the Likud party by the state of dissatisfaction prevailing in the Israeli street as a result of the policies of Netanyahu and his government, as well as the party leaders, while the hostage issue and the failure of negotiations over it dominates until now.

Maariv newspaper poll opinion also indicated an additional decline for the Likud headed by Netanyahu, from 32 seats to 17 seats, compared to an additional rise for the official Camp party led by Benny Gantz, to reach a peak of 42 seats, which holds only 12 seats, at the present time.

Israeli TV Channel 12 also published the results of its own poll, on Thursday evening, which gave close results (45 for the right-wing camp compared to 75 for the opposition).

Meanwhile, there are talks held with other prominent Israeli figures, including the head of the National Unity Party, Benny Gantz, who joined the government after the outbreak of the war, opposition leader Yair Lapid, and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Thus, and as Benjamin Netanyahu’s days as prime minister of Israel are numbered, the political stage in Israel still in blur due to the continuous war.

Scenarios before Netanyahu seem very limited, as he must accept responsibility for the political, intelligence, and operational failures that were evident on October 7, or be forced to step down after the investigations that will immediately follow the war.

So far, the political scene inside Israel seems confused, but there are names that appear to be strong in competition with Netanyahu, most notably Yossi Cohen, as well as opposition leaders who are taking advantage of the scene in order to significantly raise their shares.

According to Israeli journalist Yaakov Magid, Netanyahu’s policies over the many years he spent in power have been subject to intense scrutiny since the Hamas attack on October 7, the worst attack in the country’s history, which witnessed the flow of thousands of members of the movement across the Gaza border, and the implementation of an operation that resulted in the death of about 1,400 people, and hundreds more were kidnapped.

Israeli society holds Netanyahu fully responsible for the incident, while politicians and leaders accuse him of negligence and security and intelligence failure.

Unlike his Defense Minister, the IDF Chief of Staff, the army generals, the head of the Shin Bet and many current and former Israeli officials, Netanyahu has refused to acknowledge responsibility for the attacks that occurred under his supervision.

Opinion polls indicate that the Israeli public isn’t with him on this matter.

Leaders of the judicial reform protest movement, in addition to former senior security officials, have intensified their criticism of the government in recent days and called on Netanyahu to resign, but Netanyahu has so far refused to talk about resignation.

On Friday, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be replaced, despite the war on Gaza, pointing out that the country had lost confidence in his leadership.

The former Israeli Prime Minister said in statements to Channel 12 that Netanyahu must be replaced despite the war.

“The country has lost confidence in the Prime Minister, and he cannot run a campaign like this,” Lapid said.

He added, “There is no need to go to elections, we need a different government in this Knesset… We need another Likud prime minister”.