Netanyahu kicks off election campaign with security-focused speech

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu kicked off his Likud party’s election campaign on Thursday with a speech focussed on security concerns.

Netanyahu has come under fire for his government’s failure to prevent the Hamas-led Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the deadliest in the country’s history, but on Thursday he insisted that he and his party “are the only ones who can guarantee Israel’s security”.

He went on to list Israeli military operations that have taken place in Iran, Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip since 2023. “The mission must be completed, we must bring down the Iranian regime and totally destroy Hezbollah and Hamas,” he said.

He also accused his rivals of wanting to make “territorial concessions”, and pointed to Israeli troops in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza as evidence that “we take land instead of giving it”.

The premier repeated his refrain that he “has changed the face of the Middle East”, vowing to change it yet again, without offering specifics.

Netanyahu heads the most right-wing government in Israeli history. He has led his country into a series of wars while ramping up construction of settlements – deemed illegal under international law – in the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since the Gaza war began.

He is the first head of government to face a criminal trial, with several corruption charges levelled against him, which he denies.

Opinion polls show the Oct 27 elections are likely to be close. The bloc led by Netanyahu and his far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies are squaring off against that of his main opponent, centrist Gadi Eisenkot, who is backed by parties from both the right and the left.