Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October, the deadliest in Israeli history, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future has seemed bleak, with critics blaming him for the security failure and his poll ratings plummeting.
But a confrontation between Israel and Iran this past week — including on Friday, when Israel retaliated for last weekend’s missile barrage by Iran — may have helped change the dynamic, at least for the time being. Now Netanyahu is in his strongest domestic position since the October attack, even as his global standing ebbs amid anger at the conduct of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
"This was his best week since October,” said Mazal Mualem, a biographer of Netanyahu. "We’re all afraid of Iran, with all the nuclear forces that they may have. And that’s the reason that, this week, we can see Bibi recovering,” Mualem said, calling Netanyahu by his nickname.