How Netanyahu’s ‘divide and conquer’ strategy backfired

Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to the Hamas terror attack has been slow and incompetent. Many of the efforts to house, clothe, feed and transport those in need have been carried out by ordinary Israelis, rather than the government. Leading many of these initiatives are the same loosely organised groups that until 7 October were heading up the protest movement fighting Netanyahu’s plan to ‘reform’ the state’s judicial system.

The hundreds of thousands of Israelis who turned out every Saturday night from January were demonstrating against what they believed was a mortal threat to their country’s democracy. Now, they are rallying against a new threat to Israel. To the soldiers among them, it’s only natural now to give priority to defending the country from a physical danger. The same air force pilots who half a year ago said they would stop reporting for voluntary training flights so long as the government pushed ahead with its legislative agenda are now flying sorties over Gaza and Lebanon – just as they always said they would do.