June 17, 2026

Benjamin Netanyahu

Reuters -    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hopes of clinging to power in an election this autumn have long been shaky, but the interim U.S. deal with Iran has added yet another complication.

U.S. President Donald Trump has opted to end the wars in Iran and Lebanon long before Israel's goals were accomplished, and Netanyahu's ?boast in March that "we are changing the face of the Middle East" looks increasingly empty.

Already facing corruption allegations, domestic political controversies and criticism over security failings in the October 7, 2023 Hamas ?attack on Israel, he will now face voters' judgement of his handling of the wars and Israel's relationship with the United States, its most important ally.

Netanyahu, 76, confirmed this week he intends to stand again in an election that must be called by October.

Opinion ?polls put his right-wing coalition on course to lose but, in a parliamentary system he has dominated for long stretches since the 1990s, few Israelis would entirely discount him weaving together a new government.

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