Netanyahu Becoming Unpopular at Home

Benjamin Netanyahu still struts onto world stages, tie knotted tight, voice booming about “no ceasefire, no Palestinian state.” But behind the bluster, the pond ripples are different: inside Israel, abroad, even in Washington, the tide is turning against Bibi.

For decades Israel has played the part of the tiny “plucky nation” propped up by America’s superpower shadow. Netanyahu basked in that immunity, batting away peace deals, trampling Oslo, and laughing at Europe’s protests. But Gaza has changed the script.

Since October 2023, more than 65,000 Palestinians killed, 165,000 injured, 60% of Gaza flattened — and the world’s patience snapped. Once-solid Arab partners like the UAE and Qatar have tiptoed back from their Abraham Accords embrace. France’s Macron stole headlines by openly recognizing Palestine. Britain, Canada, and Australia followed. Even the cautious British Deputy PM David Lammy called out Israel for creating a “man-made famine.”

And then came Donald Trump, the man Netanyahu banked on. In a Daily Caller interview he said the quiet part loud: “They’re not winning the world of public relations… They’re gonna have to get that war over with. Young people across the globe look at this with horror.” For Netanyahu, that’s not an ally’s hug — it’s a slap dressed up as advice.

The gossip pond in Tel Aviv is even murkier. A new Israel Democracy Institute poll showed 64.5% of Israelis would accept a deal trading hostages for a ceasefire and IDF pullout. Shockingly, even among Netanyahu’s own Likud voters, 52% back such a deal. Opposition leader Yair Lapid has already dangled a safety net if hardliners Ben Gvir and Smotrich try to topple the coalition.

So, Netanyahu still thunders about “never recognizing Palestine.” But in the cafés of Jerusalem, in the corridors of the Knesset, and in diplomatic whispers abroad, the storyline is shifting:

The man once untouchable now looks cornered.

The war he swore would secure Israel has made it more isolated.

And the coalition partners who carried him are beginning to mutter about ending the fight.

As one European diplomat quipped at the UN: “Netanyahu is fighting three wars — in Gaza, in Washington, and in his own backyard. The question is, which front will sink him first?”

For now, Netanyahu splashes defiantly in the gossip pond, but the water is muddy, the ripples are hostile, and even his closest backers seem to be reaching for the towel.