{"id":116277,"date":"2024-10-10T17:05:34","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T15:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=116277"},"modified":"2024-10-04T10:22:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T08:22:14","slug":"10-05-102","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=116277","title":{"rendered":"The secret of Netanyahu\u2019s unacknowledged and historic popularity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>The secret of Netanyahu\u2019s unacknowledged and historic popularity<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Caroline B. Glick<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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To a large degree, the international narrative regarding the prime minister is shaped by media coverage in Israel. But the Israeli public isn\u2019t buying it.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

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\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the plenum hall of the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, Sept. 30, 2024. Photo by Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It was strange to watch\u00a0Fox News\u2019<\/em>\u00a0Martha MacCallum yesterday refer to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s \u201cunpopularity\u201d in Israel. McCallum is a straight-shooting journalist. So how is it that she is unaware that Netanyahu is the most popular prime minister Israel has had in ages?<\/span><\/p>\n

Direct Polls is Israel\u2019s most accurate polling company. It was the only one to accurately call the 2022 Knesset elections that returned Netanyahu and his Right-Religious bloc to power. Over the past year, Direct Polls accomplished what was previously considered impossible: It conducted uniformly accurate polls of much smaller local government elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s\u00a0popularity<\/a>\u00a0reasonably sank in the immediate aftermath of Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 invasion and slaughter of 1,200 Israelis. But it began rebounding in late November. After National Resilience Party leader Benny Gantz resigned from Netanyahu\u2019s government in June, Netanyahu steadily rose in Direct Polls tracking polls\u2014leading Gantz and Opposition leader Yesh Atid Party head Yair Lapid by double digits in head-to-head matchups. In the intervening months, the gap between Netanyahu and his rival has grown steadily.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Sunday, two days after Israel eliminated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Direct Polls published the results of its latest tracking poll for\u00a0Channel 14<\/em>. It found that for the first time since Oct. 7, the parties comprising Netanyahu\u2019s governing coalition have an outright majority in Knesset seats. If elections were held today, the government would be re-elected.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for Netanyahu, his popularity has reached epic proportions in Israel\u2019s polarized political jungle, enjoying higher ratings than his top two rivals\u00a0combined<\/em>. In head-to-head matchups, he leads Gantz in favorability 52% to 25% and Lapid 54% to 24%.<\/span><\/p>\n

Any time Netanyahu walks down the street or his convoy drives past pedestrians, they shout out their support and clamor to take selfies with him. And as Israeli sociologist Dr. Avishai Ben Haim has noted, Netanyahu is the only prime minister since Menachem Begin whose supporters actively pray for him personally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite Netanyahu\u2019s wild popularity, the media narrative in Israel and across the world remains where it was in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7. The standard mantra is the one MacCallum parroted on Tuesday evening. The underlying message is that Netanyahu is prolonging the war to avoid elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from being dead wrong, the assertion that Netanyahu is unpopular and is prolonging the war to avoid elections obfuscates the importance of what Netanyahu is doing. If the war is reduced to a question of politics, then we can ignore its strategic significance. And if we ignore the war\u2019s strategic significance, then we can also avoid the issue of the polls, which show that the public is rallying around Netanyahu in a way no Israeli leader has experienced in recent memory. And if we ignore the polls, then we can ignore the reasons for Netanyahu\u2019s historic popularity.<\/span><\/p>\n

But understanding his popularity is key to understanding not only the political realities of Israel, but the forces driving events.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sources of Netanyahu\u2019s popularity<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s support stems from two sources. The first is the public\u2019s recognition that Israel is fighting for its survival. The second is the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s hostility.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oct. 7 was a shattering event. It wasn\u2019t merely a massive terrorist attack. For Israelis, it was a glimpse of the future if Israel fails to win the war. It showed Israelis that we are in a zero-sum game with Iran and its terror proxies. There is no deal to be had with Hamas, Hezbollah or the Iranian regime. Either they win and Israel is annihilated, or Israel wins and they are destroyed as military and political entities. There is no middle ground, no win-win deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Biden-Harris administration has professed solidarity with Israel since Oct. 7, Hamas\u2019s day of atrocities did not change the administration\u2019s policy goals. Both before and since Oct. 7, the Biden-Harris administration has had two goals in the Middle East\u2014reaching a nuclear accord with Iran through strategic appeasement; and establishing a Palestinian state in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both of these goals are opposed by the overwhelming majority of Israelis who view both a Palestinian state and a nuclear-armed Iran as existential threats to the country. Given the outpouring of emotional support Israelis received from President Joe Biden and his advisers after Oct. 7, Israelis reasonably expected that they would jettison their anti-Israel policies.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the administration did no such thing. Instead, just days after Oct. 7, the Biden-Harris administration unfroze $6 billion in Iranian accounts and transferred the funds to Tehran. Despite mountains of evidence, the administration denied that Iran was involved in planning and approving Hamas\u2019s terrorist invasion. And they ignored the fact that upwards of 75% of Palestinians supported the slaughter of that day and no Palestinian Authority official condemned the atrocities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Far from standing with Israel, as early as Oct. 8, the administration began a policy of gaslighting Israel, intimating that it was on the verge of committing war crimes by insisting that Israel fight in accordance with the \u201claws of war,\u201d as if there was any reason to think that it wouldn\u2019t do so as a matter of course.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just a month into Israel\u2019s ground operation in Gaza, the administration began slow-walking offensive weapons, including everything from assault rifles and bullets to tank and artillery shells, and bombs for air force jets. The only armaments that were steadily resupplied were Iron Dome missiles.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the administration\u2019s perspective, Israel had the right to self-defense but not to victory. To this end, the administration sought to micromanage Israel\u2019s military operations and minimize the strategic significance. Israelis recognized that fighting to a draw meant being defeated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gantz, Lapid and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were all willing to accept the administration\u2019s position. It aligned with the way the military had been doing business for decades. Moreover, by accepting the administration\u2019s dictates, they were showered with praise from the administration. The Netanyahu-hating media used their love fests with the White House and Pentagon as a means to present them as statesmen and Netanyahu as an isolated egomaniac who was only keeping up the fight to avoid new elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the public didn\u2019t buy the media narrative. Far from viewing Netanyahu as egotistical, they saw him as their only hope of preventing national destruction. From the very early stages of the war, Netanyahu distinguished himself as the only leader the public saw: Israel is facing foes who want to kill every single Jew they come across, and if we don\u2019t defeat them, they will.<\/span><\/p>\n

Netanyahu alone pledged publicly and repeatedly that he would not permit Israel\u2019s fallen soldiers to have died in vain and would not relent in the war effort. As U.S. pressure grew stronger and more aggressive, he was also the only one who didn\u2019t falter.<\/span><\/p>\n

The administration responded to Netanyahu\u2019s refusal to accept anything short of victory by openly interfering in Israeli politics with the clear aim of either neutralizing him within his government or ousting him from power. To achieve the first goal, Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and their subordinates used the public\u2019s call for national unity to compel Netanyahu to give effective veto power over military operations to Gantz by making him a partner in the war cabinet. From his position, Gantz was able to consistently weaken Israel\u2019s military operations in line with U.S. dictates. The administration was also deeply involved in Gantz\u2019s decision in June to exit from the government. The idea was that following Gantz\u2019s resignation, Gallant would rally four Likud Knesset members to leave the government with him and form an alternate coalition with the left. In the event, Gallant was unable to carry out the plan. And in Gantz\u2019s absence, Netanyahu quickly moved to ratchet up the aggressiveness and the effectiveness of Israel\u2019s war effort in Gaza. The public strongly supported Netanyahu\u2019s moves. Any chance that Likud MKs would join the opposition disappeared.<\/span><\/p>\n

The symbiotic relationship that the Biden-Harris administration cultivated with the Israeli left did not weaken Netanyahu politically, as the media and its political allies on the left assumed. To the contrary. Since the public agreed with Netanyahu that this was a war for national survival, as the public grew more aware of the administration\u2019s opposition to Israeli victory, its support for Netanyahu grew. Likewise, politicians like Gallant, Lapid and Gantz, who are perceived as having good relations with the Biden administration, became objects of suspicion.<\/span><\/p>\n

What moved Netanyahu\u2019s approval ratings from the impressive 40s to the stratospheric (in Israeli terms) 50-plus was his trip to Washington in late July. Israelis overwhelmingly view the U.S.-Israel alliance as a strategic imperative. So while they approved Netanyahu\u2019s refusal to bow to American pressure, they worried that the media were right when they accused him of wrecking U.S.-Israel relations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The enthusiastic response Netanyahu received from lawmakers from both parties as he delivered his speech to the joint houses of Congress, and his successful meetings with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump demonstrated to the Israeli public that Netanyahu\u2019s pursuit of victory didn\u2019t dampen U.S. support for Israel at all. Netanyahu\u2019s biggest jump in approval came following that visit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The purpose of the myth of Netanyahu\u2019s unpopularity<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This returns us to the persistent media myth regarding Netanyahu\u2019s unpopularity. To a large degree, the international media narrative regarding him is shaped by the Israeli media\u2019s coverage. With the notable exception of\u00a0Channel 14,<\/em>\u00a0Israel\u2019s print and electronic media have been central actors in the left\u2019s longstanding efforts to demonize the prime minister with the goal of ousting him from power. To this end, since the early stages of the war, the coverage has been defeatist and demoralizing. For instance,\u00a0Channel 12\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0correspondents and commentators reacted to the announcement by the IDF on Sept. 27 that Nasrallah was killed with mournful faces and barely hidden disappointment. In contrast, the public was elated and energized by the news.<\/span><\/p>\n

By insisting that Netanyahu is unpopular, and his unpopularity is driving his determination to bring victory in war, the media drives a narrative that ignores the strategic implications of ending the war without defeating Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the public isn\u2019t buying it. Netanyahu supported because by insisting on fighting to victory at all costs, and then doggedly maintaining allegiance to his pledge, Netanyahu regained the public\u2019s trust. And now that his determination is yielding victories, from day to day, Netanyahu\u2019s unrelenting determination increases his popularity and makes the administration, the opposition and the media appear increasingly ridiculous and irrelevant in the eyes of the Israeli public.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Caroline B. Glick<\/strong> is the senior contributing editor of Jewish News Syndicate and host of the \u201cCaroline Glick Show\u201d on JNS. She is also the diplomatic commentator for Israel\u2019s Channel 14, as well as a columnist for Newsweek. Glick is the senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy in Washington and a lecturer at Israel\u2019s College of Statesmanship. She appears regularly on U.S., British, Australian and Indian television networks, including Fox, Newsmax and CBN. She appears, as well, on the BBC, Sky News Britain and Sky News Australia, and on India’s WION News Network. She speaks regularly on nationally syndicated and major market radio shows across the English-speaking world. She is also a frequent guest on major podcasts, including the Dave Rubin Show and the Victor Davis Hanson Show.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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The secret of Netanyahu\u2019s unacknowledged and historic popularity Caroline B. Glick To a large degree, the international narrative regarding the prime minister is shaped by media coverage in Israel. But the Israeli public isn\u2019t buying it. . Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the plenum hall of the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, Sept. 30, 2024. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116277"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116321,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116277\/revisions\/116321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}