Netanyahu claims victory over Iran – but polling shows many Israelis don't trust him
Back in March, as he turned his back on a ceasefire process that was delivering results, the Israeli prime minister took a decision described by some commentators as akin to "political suicide".The Gaza ceasefire deal, brokered by Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff even before the US president was inaugurated to his second term, had led to the release of dozens of hostages from Hamas captivity, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.The next stage was due to see more hostages return home and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, before a negotiated end to the war.Tired of conflict, Israelis and Palestinians contemplated the end of the most destructive war in a common history too frequently punctuated by fighting.But Benjamin Netanyahu didn't want the war to end. As he ordered the resumption of attacks across Gaza, the prime minister declared that fighting would continue until Hamas had been "completely destroyed".
The safe return of the remaining hostages in Gaza seemed to be a secondary consideration. (The civilian consequences in Gaza itself didn't merit a mention.)Many Israelis, especially the hostage families, were outraged.They accused Netanyahu of putting his own political survival ahead of their relatives' safety and the greater good of the nation."Bibi's" popularity in the polls plummeted and he struggled to keep together a disjointed government, propped up by hardline ministers from the far right and orthodox religious parties.Three months on, Netanyahu is basking in the glory of a spectacular military victory over his nemesis, Iran. He is now said to be contemplating early elections and yet another term as prime minister.At a press conference earlier this week, the 75-year-old, who is already Israel's longest-serving leader, said he still had "many missions" to complete and would seek to do so for as long as "the people" of Israel want him to.Later in the week, and presenting the presumed destruction of Iran's nuclear programme as a "window of opportunity" that "must not be missed", Netanyahu suggested only he could secure the "freeing of hostages and defeat of Hamas" after which he would strike wider regional agreements.But calling early elections would be a big risk and, according to the latest polls, Netanyahu hasn't enjoyed as big a "bounce" from the 12-day conflict with Iran as he might have hoped for.
'Trust'
In a fractured political system where coalition building is key in the 120-seat Knesset, Netanyahu's Likud Party would fall well short of a majority by itself and could struggle to pull together support from smaller parties on the right, suggests latest polling in the Ma'ariv newspaper.The same polling suggested a significant majority, 59% of Israelis, want the fighting in Gaza to stop now, in exchange for the hostages.Almost half of those asked, some 49%, also thought the only reason Netanyahu is continuing the war is for his own political considerations."The guy is a very skilful political actor," says Professor Tamar Hermann, a senior Research Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. "There is no more skilled politician in Israel."But, he says, "trust" is a big problem for Netanyahu.A political leader who has changed his spots so many times to cling to the reins of power is simply no longer believed by a majority of Israelis.According to new polling, soon to be released by Prof Hermann's Israel Democracy Institute, Netanyahu "doesn't cross the 50% line in terms of Israelis expressing full or even partial trust in him".In some ways, says Prof Hermann, deciding to call early elections "is an even greater risk [for Netanyahu] than attacking Iran because in the Middle East you really don't know where you will be in six months".That's because, despite his military gamble in Iran seemingly paying off, there's an elephant in the corner of Benjamin Netanyahu's living room.Indeed, you could say a small herd of elephants is threatening to disrupt the prime minister's hopes of yet another term in office.
Corruption charges
Next week, he is due to testify in a high-profile criminal case in which he's facing charges of political corruption, including bribery and fraud.The prime minister's attempts to, again, delay the High Court hearings on account of his busy schedule and the special state of emergency (over the Iran war) were rejected at the end of last week.Netanyahu and his supporters have repeatedly tried to portray the legal case against him as part of a "politically driven witch hunt" but in an increasingly polarised society, his opponents are equally determined he should face justice.Appearing to belatedly learn about "Bibi's" legal troubles, President Trump said Netanyahu was a "great hero" and "warrior" whose trial should be "cancelled immediately" or, at the very least, he should be given a pardon.This, remember, is the same US president who only days earlier had publicly castigated the Israeli prime minister – with expletives – as the Iran ceasefire deal threatened to unravel before it had begun.But Trump's latest intervention has been described as unwise and unhelpful by many in Israel.Opposition leader Yair Lapid said he should not "intervene in a legal process of an independent state".His apparently contradictory stance on Israel and attempted intervention in Netanyahu's legal case was akin to "treating us like a banana republic", says Prof Hermann.On the international stage, many Israelis accuse Netanyahu of having harmed Israel's global standing and its economic prospects by needlessly prolonging the war in Gaza, even though many former generals have said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has achieved as much as is militarily possible in Gaza.It should not be forgotten, either, that the International Criminal Court still has warrants issued against the prime minister - and former defence minister Yoav Gallant - over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, where more than 55,000 people have been killed in Israel's war against Hamas.Israel's government, along with Netanyahu and Gallant, strongly reject the accusations.Ultimately, say most commentators, it would be difficult to imagine new elections being called in Israel while the war in Gaza continues and while Israeli hostages remain captive.But many of Netanyahu's critics and opponents have prematurely written him off over the years and have certainly learned never to second-guess what his next move might be.
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Police examining Glastonbury performances labelled ‘hateful' and ‘grotesque'
Police continue to examine videos of comments made by acts Bob Vylan and Kneecap at Glastonbury as the festival enters its third day. Rapper Bobby Vylan, of rap punk duo Bob Vylan, on Saturday led crowds on the festival's West Holts Stage in chants of: 'Free, free Palestine' and: 'Death, death to the IDF', before a member of Irish rap trio Kneecap suggested fans 'start a riot' outside his bandmate's upcoming court appearance. In a post on social media, Avon and Somerset Police said: 'We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon. 'Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.' Reacting on social media, the Israeli Embassy said it was 'deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival'. A statement on X said: 'Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of democracy. But when speech crosses into incitement, hatred, and advocacy of ethnic cleansing, it must be called out—especially when amplified by public figures on prominent platforms. 'Chants such as 'Death to the IDF,' and 'From the river to the sea' are slogans that advocate for the dismantling of the State of Israel and implicitly call for the elimination of Jewish self-determination. When such messages are delivered before tens of thousands of festivalgoers and met with applause, it raises serious concerns about the normalisation of extremist language and the glorification of violence. 'We call on Glastonbury Festival organisers, artists, and public leaders in the UK to denounce this rhetoric and reject of all forms of hatred.' Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the scenes 'grotesque', writing on X: 'Glorifying violence against Jews isn't edgy. The West is playing with fire if we allow this sort of behaviour to go unchecked. 'The cultural establishment needs to wake up to the fact this isn't protest, it's incitement. 'Less than 2 years ago, hundreds were raped and murdered at a music festival. It's not just the act but the gormless people clapping along and cheering. People with no idea what real terror is. 'They don't understand the evil ideology they're amplifying – and they don't care.' BBC spokesperson said: 'Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan's set were deeply offensive. During this live stream on iPlayer, which reflected what was happening on stage, a warning was issued on screen about the very strong and discriminatory language. We have no plans to make the performance available on demand.' Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has spoken to the BBC director general about Bob Vylan's performance, a Government spokesperson said. They added: 'We strongly condemn the threatening comments made by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury. 'The Culture Secretary has spoken to the BBC director general to seek an urgent explanation about what due diligence it carried out ahead of the Bob Vylan performance, and welcomes the decision not to re-broadcast it on BBC iPlayer.' Kneecap, who hail from Belfast, have been in the headlines after member Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence. In reference to his bandmate's upcoming court date, Naoise O Caireallain, who performs under the name Moglai Bap, said they would 'start a riot outside the courts', before clarifying: 'No riots just love and support, and support for Palestine.' In the run-up to the festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, several politicians called for the group to be removed from the line-up and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said their performance would not be 'appropriate'. During the performance, Caireallain said: 'The Prime Minister of your country, not mine, said he didn't want us to play, so f*** Keir Starmer.' He also said a 'big thank you to the Eavis family' and said 'they stood strong' amid calls for the organisers to drop them from the line-up. O hAnnaidh, 27, wore a keffiyeh during the set, while member JJ O Dochartaigh, who performs under the name DJ Provai, wore his signature tri-coloured balaclava as well as a T-shirt that said: 'We are all Palestine Action', in reference to the soon-to-be banned campaign group. News broadcasts criticising the hip hop trio played from the sound system before they walked onto the stage were booed by the Glastonbury Festival audience. The trio opened with the song Better Way To Live from their 2024 album Fine Art and also performed tracks including Get Your Brits Out and Hood. Access to the area around the West Holts Stage was closed around 45 minutes before their performance after groups of fans arrived to form a sea of Irish and Palestinian flags. Earlier on Saturday, the BBC confirmed they would not be live-streaming the set but said the performance is likely to be made available on-demand later. O hAnnaidh was charged with allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah, while saying 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah' at a gig in November last year. On June 18, the rapper was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates O Caireallain and O Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates' Court in Free Mo Chara T-shirts. He was released on unconditional bail until the next hearing at the same court on August 20. Saturday night's Pyramid Stage headliner, Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts, opened with the song Sugar Mountain, with Young saying 'thank you folks' to the crowd as the song ended. The set list, drawing heavily from live album Live Rust, included songs Be The Rain, When You Dance I Can Really Love, Cinnamon Girl and Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black), with lyrics that reference Johnny Rotten, the stage name of Sex Pistols's John Lydon. Charli XCX's performance on the Other Stage saw US singer Gracie Abrams perform the viral Apple dance. As the song began, the British pop star said: 'Who the f*** is gonna be Apple girl, Glastonbury?' while holding what appeared to be a glass of wine. The 32-year-old played her Partygirl set at Glastonbury Festival last year, but this time the singer performed on a much bigger stage amid a year that has seen her pick up a slew of awards. Elsewhere at the festival, Haim performed as the surprise act on the Park Stage at 7.30pm, while on the Pyramid Stage, Pulp were revealed to be Patchwork with the Sheffield-formed Britpop band paying homage to their breakthrough 1995 stand-in headline set during the performance. Performing in the coveted Sunday legends slot this year is Sir Rod Stewart, who previously said he will be joined by his former Faces band member Ronnie Wood, as well as other guests. Sir Rod's performance will come after he postponed a string of concerts in the US, due to take place this month, while he recovered from flu. US singer Olivia Rodrigo takes the final Sunday slot after opening the British Summer Time Hyde Park concert series on Friday. The BBC is providing livestreams of the five main stages: Pyramid, Other, West Holts, Woodsies and The Park.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Israeli strikes kill more than 60 people in Gaza, health officials say
At least 62 people have been killed in Gaza by overnight Israeli strikes, according to health officials, as the humanitarian situation worsens in the besieged strip despite renewed hope for a ceasefire. Airstrikes began overnight on Friday and continued into Saturday morning, killing a dozen people near a displacement shelter near Palestine Stadium in Gaza City. A strike at midday on Saturday killed at least 11 people. A displaced family in a tent was killed in an Israeli strike in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, while they were sleeping. Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 56,000 people, half of whom are women and children, local health authorities say. Famine-like conditions reign in Gaza after a two-and-a-half month blockade imposed by Israel on all food until late May, since when Israel has allowed only a dribble of humanitarian aid into the strip. Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 people hostage. The latest killings come as a ceasefire in Gaza seems within reach, with Donald Trump saying on Friday that an agreement could come within a week. 'I think it's close,' the US president said. 'I just spoke to some of the people involved. We think within the next week we're going to get a ceasefire.' Reports say Israel's minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, will visit Washington next week to discuss the ceasefire, among other topics. The recent ceasefire with Iran, which ended a 12-day conflict that Israel perceived to be a great success, might provide breathing room for long-stalled peace talks. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said on Thursday: 'Along with releasing our hostages and defeating Hamas, there is an opportunity, a window of opportunity has opened and it can't be missed. Not even a single day can be wasted.' Fighting started anew in Gaza in March, when Israel restarted its war after refusing to move to a second phase of a January ceasefire that could have led to a more permanent truce. Negotiations since then have so far been fruitless, with Hamas insisting on a total end to the war in Gaza – a demand Israel has rejected. Since the breakdown of the March ceasefire, more than 6,000 people have been killed in Gaza. Israel, for its part, says its aim for continuing the war is to return about 50 hostages who remain in Gaza, 30 of whom are presumed to be dead. Hamas has said it is willing to free all the hostages if there is a permanent truce, but Netanyahu wants the militant group to be completely dismantled in Gaza. The most recent US proposal for a ceasefire involved a 60-day pause in fighting and renewed talks to achieve long-term peace, in addition to the release of half of all living hostages and half of the deceased. Hamas previously requested amendments to the proposal to release fewer hostages and for a permanent truce, which was rejected by the US Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, at the end of May. As ceasefire talks have languished, humanitarian conditions in Gaza have sharply deteriorated. Unicef said last week that 60% of water production facilities in Gaza were out of order and that there was a 50% increase in acute child malnutrition from April to May. Scenes of chaos unfold every day as crowds of hungry Palestinians have had to walk miles and contend with confusing sets of rules to access food, now distributed from set points run by the private American initiative the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). More than 500 people have been shot dead by Israeli forces as they have attempted to get aid from GHF distribution points, with witnesses accusing Israeli soldiers of shooting directly at crowds. The Israeli military said it was investigating such incidents. Fifteen international human rights organisations have called on the GHF to halt its operations in Gaza, saying it risks being complicit in war crimes. The organisations also accused the GHF of violating the principles of neutrality and independence, cornerstones of humanitarian work.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Kneecap lead anti-Starmer chant during politically charged Glastonbury set
Kneecap began a politically charged set at Glastonbury on Saturday afternoon, leading the crowds in chants of 'Fuck Keir Starmer!' The Irish rap act took to the stage at 4pm for their controversial set, which had been criticised by the UK prime minister as not 'appropriate'. The PM's comment came after band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, known as Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence for holding a Hezbollah flag at a London gig last November. 'We understand colonialism and we understand how important it is to support each other internationally,' said Ó hAnnaidh on the band's support for the people of Gaza who have suffered at the hands of Israel's military and through a lack of aid deliveries. Later on Saturday, an Avon and Somerset police spokesperson said the force was assessing comments made by Kneecap during their set. They told the Guardian: 'We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts stage at Glastonbury festival this afternoon. 'Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.' During the Kneecap performance, a sea of at least 200 Palestinian flags made it difficult for cameras to get a clear shot of the stage from inside the crowd. 'The BBC editor is going to have some job,' Chara joked, referring to the flags. Earlier the broadcaster confirmed it would not be able to support a live stream of the performance. The broadcaster has not yet confirmed when the footage will be available on iPlayer. Users of the Glastonbury app received a push notification almost an hour before the band were due to perform saying the West Holts stage was closed. However, spectators were still getting in 20 minutes before the start of the set. The show opened with clips of news and various TV discussion shows, with politicians and commentators saying the group should be banned and had been 'avoiding justice for far too long'. There was booing from the crowd for Sharon Osborne calling them a 'pathetic band'. 'Glastonbury I'm a free man!' shouted Ó hAnnaidh, to wild cheers from the crowd. 'If anybody falls down, you've got to pick them up. We've got to keep each other safe,' he added. The group, who rap in English and Irish, performed an energetic set including Your Sniffer Dogs Are Shite, Get Your Brits Out and Fine Art in front of a backdrop which said 'Free Palestine', occasionally varying with other phrases including 'Fuck Badenoch', referring to the leader of the Tory party. The crowds chanted: 'Free Mo Chara, free free Mo Chara!' 'Mo Chara's back in court for a trumped up terrorism charge,' said Móglaí Bap, also known as Naoise Ó Cairealláin. 'It's not the first time there's a miscarriage of justice for an Irish person in the British criminal justice system,' he said. Ó hAnnaidh cut a defiant figure, saying his plight in the courts was nothing compared to the suffering of the Palestinian people. The band urged people to come out to support Ó hAnnaidh at his next court date at Westminster magistrates court. 'I want to say a big thank you to the Eavis family [organisers of Glastonbury],' Ó hAnnaidh added, for 'holding strong' in the face of criticism. Asked on Wednesday about the controversy, organiser Emily Eavis said: 'There have been a lot of really heated topics this year, but we remain a platform for many, many artists from all over the world and, you know, everyone is welcome here.' On numerous occasions, the trio chanted 'Fuck Keir Starmer!', with the crowd passionately shouting back. They also had the crowds chanting the Irish republican slogan, 'tiocfaidh ár lá', which translates as 'our day will come'. The band laughed with the crowd asking: 'Is anyone going to see Rod Stewart tomorrow?' The 80-year-old rocker was criticised ahead of his Pyramid stage performance after saying he thought the public should give Nigel Farage 'a chance'. Describing him as Rod the Prod, Ó hAnnaidh said: 'I mean, the man's older than Israel.' Paloma Faith, the musician and public speaker, was in the crowd for Kneecap's performance. She told the Guardian: 'A lot of people are now being demonised because there's such a fear of terrorism. And I understand that fear but I don't think that Kneecap have anything to do with that. They're all about the soul and the heart of freedom of people. 'I don't know anyone who likes to see children being killed on such a huge scale for any reason and I think [Kneecap] stand by that. Obviously they come from the perspective of a marginalised community at the hands of British colonialism.' She said artists who speak out on human rights issues were worried about being misquoted by the press or having their words taken out of context at a time when peaceful activists are coming under increasing attack from governments. She added: 'Everyone's a bit scared now. People are going to jail for stuff that isn't what we perceive as violent. It's scary times.' It comes after the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said on Monday that the pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action would be proscribed under anti-terror laws. If approved in parliament in a vote next week, this would make membership and support of the group illegal and punishable with a prison sentence under anti-terror laws. On stage, Kneecap reiterated their support for the group and band member JJ Ó Dochartaigh, known as DJ Próvaí, wore a Palestine Action T-shirt, underneath a red boiler suit associated with the group as he surfed the crowd.
