The Likud has confirmed that Prime Minister Netanyahu will run for re-election later this year, after US President Trump appeared to cast doubt on the prospect.
During an interview with ABC on Tuesday, Trump openly pondered “if Bibi even wants to continue” in office in the aftermath of the Iran War.
"I don’t know, he’s had an amazing career,” he told the network’s White House correspondent, Jonathan Karl.
"Does he want to continue? Because, you know, he’s a wartime prime minister.
"We will very shortly win the war one way or the other, and you know he’s a wartime prime minister.”
However, Netanyahu’s party quickly put out a statement dispelling any rumours that he would not contest the elections.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu will run in the upcoming elections - and with God's help, he will win,” a spokesperson said.
Israeli voters are due to go to the ballot this autumn, with elections required by law to take place by October 27.
The latest polling suggests a tight race between the right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu, with support from Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit, against the more centrist coalition headlined by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
Bennett and Lapid announced in April that they would be running on a joint ticket and merging their respective parties, Bennett 2026 and Yesh Atid, to form Beyachad (“Together”).
However, there are stumbling blocks for both factions on each end of the political spectrum.
Netanyahu appears to have lost the support of the Charedi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), both of which have resigned their ministerial posts in his coalition (with UTJ pulling out altogether) and have previously attempted to dissolve the government and force early voting over the contentious issue of conscripting yeshiva students into the IDF.
On the other side, Yair Golan’s Democrats are polling at around 10 per cent of the vote, potentially splitting Beyachad’s vote, while the Arab parties have re-formed the Joint List, which could play the role of kingmaker for either coalition.
Last week, MKs voted 106-0 in favour of a government-sponsored bill to dissolve the Knesset at its first reading.
That bill, though, does not contain the precise election date, with government whips saying this will be introduced ahead of the second or third reading. The dates for those two votes is also yet to be confirmed.
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