Israel’s veteran PM declares bid to stay in power despite war failures and graft charges

JERUSALEM, June 16 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said he intended to run in elections scheduled for later this year, as he faced domestic criticism over his wartime leadership.

Netanyahu, who is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has led his country through three years of war on multiple interconnected fronts, and is currently on trial for corruption.

In recent months, he has come under mounting fire from opposition leaders who accuse him of failing to achieve the war aims he set out following Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.

“I am going to run in the elections and intend to win,” the veteran leader said in a televised press conference, his first comments after Washington and Tehran agreed to a deal to end the Middle East war sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

On Monday, Israeli figures across the political spectrum slammed the US-Iran agreement, saying it would not protect their country’s interests.

Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister and leading contender in the upcoming election, said it marked a “dangerous turn for Israel’s security”.

Earlier in June, Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party said the 76-year-old would seek re-election in the vote, which is scheduled to be held by the end of October.

It came after US President Donald Trump publicly questioned whether the veteran politician and close ally would run.

Netanyahu has served as prime minister for nearly two decades across multiple terms and has also battled a recent series of health issues.

Earlier this year, he disclosed that surgeons had successfully removed what he described as a “small, early-stage malignant tumour” from his prostate. — AFP