Benyamin Netanyahu under fire from critics

Internationally and at the heart of Israeli society, pressure is mounting on Benyamin Netanyahu. The death of seven aid workers from the American NGO World Central Kitchen, killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza on Tuesday 2 April, has embarrassed the Hebrew Prime Minister in his dealings with Washington. Tsahal has admitted a serious error and an unintentional strike, which some Israeli media deny. The rest of the international community is still calling for the ceasefire voted by the UN Security Council on 25 March to be respected.

In Israel, Netanyahu is also caught in a vice of criticism, from both left and right: demonstrators are demanding the return of the hostages and an end to the operation in Gaza, while the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, Netanyahu’s major electoral supporter, is criticising the end of his exemption from military service. Faced with the growing unpopularity of the conservative right, the centrist opposition represented by Benny Gantz broke the sacred union formed following 7 October, and called for early elections in September.

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