After Iran, pressure mounts on Netanyahu to end Gaza war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rise in popularity during the war with Iran may already be fading, as pressure mounts at home to end the conflict in Gaza.
Netanyahu claimed victory over the Islamic republic in the 12-day war that ended with a ceasefire last week, after President Donald Trump ordered US warplanes to join in bombing Iranian nuclear sites.
Political scientist Assaf Meydani, in a column on Israeli website Ynet on Saturday, said that alongside a "victory for both Trump and Netanyahu" in Iran, the Israeli leader "will have to explain a series of failures".
Most notable among them, according to Meydani, is Netanyahu's "failure to end the campaign in Gaza", where Israel has been fighting to crush the Palestinian militant group Hamas since October 2023.
"Hamas, though battered, has not been destroyed, and 'Swords of Iron' has become prolonged attrition," Meydani said, using Israel's name for its military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
"The people of Israel are strong, but tensions are simmering."
Israelis fearful of the threat of a nuclear Iran rallied behind Netanyahu as he led the campaign against Israel's longtime rival. Now that that war is over, domestic and international pressure has resumed to secure an end to the fighting in Gaza.
A public opinion poll published by Israel's Kan public broadcaster the day after Tuesday's ceasefire with Iran suggested a rise in support for Netanyahu.
But while his approval ratings went up compared to previous polls, 52 percent of respondents in the Kan survey still said they wanted Netanyahu -- Israel's longest-serving prime minister -- out of office.
Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they wanted the Gaza war to end, compared to 22 percent who favoured continuing the fighting.
Israeli newspaper Maariv said Friday that its polling showed a "surge" for Netanyahu immediately after the ceasefire with Iran had "evaporated almost entirely" within days.
In the coastal hub of Tel Aviv on Saturday, thousands of people gathered to demand a ceasefire deal that would bring home the dozens of hostages still held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.
Liri Albag, who was released from captivity in January under a short-lived truce, told the crowd that Netanyahu and Trump "made brave decisions on Iran. Now make the brave decision to end the war in Gaza and bring (the hostages) home."
- 'Terrible failures' -
Trump wrote on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that "Netanyahu is negotiating a deal with Hamas that will include the release of the hostages."
On Sunday, he added: "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!"
On the same day, Netanyahu said that the war with Iran had created "opportunities" to free the remaining hostages.
Netanyahu has also faced renewed pressure from one of his political rivals, former prime minister Naftali Bennett.
Criticising the Netanyahu government's "inability to decide" on Gaza, Bennett called for "a comprehensive agreement that includes the release of all the hostages" to end "the terrible impasse and political confusion".
"Netanyahu must step down. He has been in power for 20 years... that's far too long", Bennett told Israel's Channel 12 in an interview that aired on Saturday.
"The people want change, they want calm," added Bennett, who is widely expected to run for office again in the next elections, scheduled for late 2026.
Gil Dickman, a prominent activist demanding action by Israel to secure the release of the hostages, said that while "the operation in Iran was a success", Netanyahu had "failed" to "make people forget his responsibility" for failing to prevent Hamas's unprecedented 2023 attack.
Dickman, whose cousin Carmel Gat was killed in captivity and her body retrieved from Gaza in August, told AFP that Netanyahu's "terrible failures and the abandonment of the hostages will not be forgotten".
Expressing "cautious optimism" after Trump's recent remarks, Dickman said there was "apparently an opportunity to end the war".
"We couldn't save my cousin, but we can still save those who are still alive in Gaza."
mib/sdu/glp/rlp/ami
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tesla Stock Sinks as Musk-Trump Feud Escalates Again
Shares of Tesla are dropping in premarket trading Tuesday as the feud between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump heats up again. Trump early Tuesday accused Musk of gaining excessively from electric vehicle subsidies. Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," currently being debated by the Senate, includes a provision to eliminate the $7,500 new EV tax credit, a key piece of former President Joe Biden's efforts to accelerate U.S. EV of electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) are dropping more than 4% in premarket trading Tuesday as the feud between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump heats up again. In a post on his Truth Social platform early Tuesday, Trump accused Musk of gaining from subsidies on electric cars. "Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa," Trump wrote. Trump's signature "One Big Beautiful Bill," currently being debated by the Senate, includes a provision to eliminate the $7,500 new EV tax credit, a key piece of former President Joe Biden's efforts to accelerate U.S. EV adoption. "No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!,' Trump added as he lashed out at his former ally. Musk, who also is the CEO of rocket company SpaceX, recently stepped down from running the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in order to focus on his businesses. Trump's comments came hours after Musk posted his latest complaints about the tax-and-spending bill on his social media platform X. "Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!" Musk wrote. "And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth." Tesla shares entered Tuesday having lost more than a fifth of their value this year. During the initial escalation of the public spat between Musk and Trump on June 5, shares tumbled 14%, erasing more than $150 billion from Tesla's market capitalization. Read the original article on Investopedia Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
23 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Trump Threatens Musk as Senate Pulls All-Nighter on Tax Bill
Donald Trump again threatened to withdraw government subsidies from Elon Musk's companies after the Tesla CEO ratcheted up his criticism of the president's tax and spending bill. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Musk 'may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far,' and that without government support, 'Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.' Musk has posted dozens of times since Senate Republicans unveiled a new version of their tax-cut package Saturday that expedited the end of a popular $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric vehicle purchases. Meanwhile, Senate Republican leaders are continuing to scrounge for votes to pass the $3.3 trillion bill. Today's guests: Adam Posen, Peterson Institute for International Economics President, Dan Draper, S&P Dow Jones Indices CEO, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Société Générale Chairman (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
3 times Trump's tariffs worked
President Donald Trump's tariffs are designed to boost US manufacturing, restore the balance of trade and fill America's coffers with tax dollars. The White House's record on those three goals has been a decidedly mixed bag. But Trump has a fourth way that he likes to use tariffs. Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs as a kind of anvil dangling over the heads of countries, companies or industries. The subjects of Trump's tariff threats have, at times, immediately come to the negotiating table. Sometimes, threats just work. The most recent example was over the weekend, when Canada backed off its digital services tax that was set to go into effect Monday. Trump had railed against the tax on online companies, including US corporations that do business in Canada. On Friday, he threatened to end trade talks with America's northern neighbor. Trump also said he would set a new tariff for Canada by the end of this week. On Sunday, Canada backed down, saying it would drop the tax to help bring the countries back to the table. 'To support those negotiations, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, announced today that Canada would rescind the Digital Services Tax (DST) in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States,' the Canadian government said in a statement. On Monday, United States and Canada restarted trade discussions. 'It's part of a bigger negotiation,' said Prime Minister Mark Carney in a press conference Monday. 'It's something that we expected, in the broader sense, that would be part of a final deal. We're making progress toward a final deal.' Trump's first tariff action of his second term came against Colombia after President Gustavo Petro in late January blocked US military flights carrying undocumented migrants from landing as part of Trump's mass deportation effort. In turn, Trump threatened 25% tariffs on Colombian exports that would grow to 50% if the country didn't accept deportees from the United States. Colombia quickly walked back its refusal and reached an agreement to accept deported migrants. 'You can't go out there and publicly defy us in that way,' a Trump administration official told CNN in January. 'We're going to make sure the world knows they can't get away with being nonserious and deceptive.' Trump ultimately dropped the tariff threat. Citing a lack of progress in trade negotiations, Trump in late May said he was calling off talks with the European Union and would instead just impose a 50% tariff on all goods from there. 'Our discussions with them are going nowhere!' Trump wrote on Truth Social on May 23. Later that day in the Oval Office, Trump said he was no longer looking for a deal with the EU. But three days later, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with Trump and said the EU would fast-track a deal with the United States. Trump then delayed the 50% tariff deadline until July 9. Although a deal hasn't yet come through, Trump's threat got Europe to get serious, in the White House's view, on trade, when it had been slow-walking negotiations, trying to get a consensus from its dozens of members. The Trump administration attributes a large number of corporate investments in the United State to its tariffs and tariff threats, although it's often hard to draw a clear line from Trump's trade policy to a particular company announcing it will build an American factory. Those decisions often take years of planning and are costly processes. For example, shortly after Trump doubled down on steel and aluminum tariffs and included finished products like dishwashers and washing machines in the 50% tariff, GE Appliances said it would move production from China to Kentucky. The company said it had planned the move before Trump announced the derivative product tariffs – but Trump's trade war accelerated its plans. In some other cases, Trump's threats have largely gone nowhere. Furious with Apple CEO Tim Cook for announcing the company would export iPhones to the United States from India – rather than building an iPhone factory in the United States – Trump announced a 25% tariff on all Apple products imported to the United States. He threatened the same against Samsung. But Trump never followed through with his threat, and Apple and Samsung haven't budged on their insistence that complex smartphone manufacturing just isn't practical or possible in the United States. Skilled manufacturing labor for that kind of complex work isn't readily available in the United States – and those who do have those capabilities charge much more to work here than their peers charge in other countries. Complying with Trump's demands could add thousands of dollars to the cost of a single smartphone – more than Trump's threatened tariff. Trump similarly threatened Hollywood in May with a 100% tariff on movies made outside the United States. That left many media executives scratching their heads, trying to figure out what the threat entailed – a threat that ultimately never materialized. The administration later acknowledged Trump's statement about the tariff was merely a proposal, and it was eager to hear from the industry about how to bring lost production back to Hollywood. Nevertheless, Trump's threats against the movie industry raised awareness about the bipartisan issue, and California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom subsequently posted support for a partnership with the Trump administration to incentivize movie and television makers to film in the state again. Trump's threats don't always work, and sometimes his tariffs have kicked off a trade war, raising prices in a tit-for-tat tariff escalation. But a handful of times, including this weekend, his tariff threats have gotten America's trading partners to agree to major concessions. CNN's Luciana Lopez and Michael Rios contributed to this report. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
