Three years after Oct. 7, Netanyahu’s legacy is isolation

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 24. | REUTERS

Oct 11, 2026

The Hamas terror attack on Israel three years ago horrified the world. But the indiscriminate ferocity of the Israeli response under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has almost completely eclipsed the initial atrocity in shaping global attitudes toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The mass casualties and systematic leveling of Gaza, followed by reckless escalations in Lebanon and Iran, have left Israel more isolated internationally than at any point in its modern history, especially among center-left parties worldwide.

This broad backlash has left Israeli voters with a stark choice in this month’s election: elect a government committed to regaining international confidence or further alienate the country’s traditional allies with Netanyahu and his far-right coalition. The consequences of that choice may be felt most immediately in the U.S., Israel’s most important ally. The Gaza war and its aftermath have prompted the most fundamental reassessment of the U.S.-Israeli relationship among Democrats in decades — maybe ever.

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