Israel election brings calls for Netanyahu to answer for October 7 security failure

Be’eri, Israel. For Gal Cohen, whose kibbutz lost a tenth of its residents in the Hamas assault of October 7, 2023, the prospect of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu winning re-election on Tuesday is painful. Opponents hope the vote will bring accountability for the security failure, but polling points to a possible prolonged impasse.

A survivor’s demand for responsibility

Cohen, 61, walks beside a memorial bearing the names of men, women and children killed when Hamas attacked Be’eri. Residents of the kibbutz accounted for one in ten of its population among the 1,200 people killed in the surprise assault. Dozens of Be’eri residents were also among the 251 people abducted and taken to Gaza.

The attack made October 7 the deadliest day in Israel’s history.

Cohen said Netanyahu, who led the country at the time and has remained in office since, ought to have accepted responsibility and resigned. He described the prime minister’s completion of an entire term as an affront and said Tuesday’s vote was crucial for Israel.

“If this government will stay, many hearts and minds will be broken. It will be really hard to continue,” said Cohen.

Polls leave the outcome uncertain

For many Netanyahu opponents, the election offers a long-delayed opportunity to hold him accountable for a security collapse unmatched in generations. Yet a loss of his parliamentary majority would not necessarily produce the conclusive outcome they want.

Months of opinion polling have indicated a steep decline in support for Likud, Netanyahu’s party. However, the alliance seeking to remove him, bringing together parties from across the political spectrum, also lacks an evident route to government.

That leaves the possibility of months of deadlock, during which Israel’s longest-serving prime minister could remain in charge in a caretaker capacity.

Netanyahu defends his record

Netanyahu has refused to accept blame for the security breach and has opposed demands for an independent inquiry. He argues that Israel’s military campaigns against Hamas in Gaza and its allies in Lebanon and Iran will bring greater peace to the Middle East.

During campaigning, he has said that the mission will remain unfinished until Iran’s clerical leadership falls, presenting himself as the only leader with the resolve and stature to achieve that goal.

Be’eri after the assault

In the aftermath of October 7, Israeli troops patrolled Be’eri’s burned and wrecked houses. Blood marked the floors, bullets had punctured doors, and the smell of bodies lingered in places.

Shellfire and Israeli military aircraft over Gaza could be heard constantly.