ISRAEL HAYOM
Netanyahu’s remark hints at when he might step down
Amit Segal
October 22, 2026
One sentence from Netanyahu this week should have made every ear perk up: “We have two years left of my great friend Donald Trump’s presidency, two years to finish the job.” In that sentence, for the first time in 12 races for prime minister, is Netanyahu marking an end date? Since 2015 the Likud campaign has toyed with such a declaration, tested it in polls and always backed off at the last moment. It’s called “iron”, the link between the words “prime minister” and “Benjamin Netanyahu.” The original argument is that many swing voters will find it easier to support him for final arrangements for one last job (toppling the regime in Iran, peace with Saudi Arabia and Lebanon) if they know it ends afterward. But in most polls the result is that it deters more voters than it attracts. If it turns out, by mistake, that Netanyahu is a mortal of flesh and blood, and not someone with the prime minister’s office registered in his name in the land registry, then why not vote for someone else? READ MORE
POLITICO Trump throws Netanyahu a last-minute lifeline. It may not be enough. President Donald Trump’s political brand is still riding high in Israel — but it may not save Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from an electoral defeat next Tuesday. Despite providing an important signal of support from the leader of Israel’s most crucial ally, Trump’s last-minute endorsement of Netanyahu this week landed amid a series of opinion polls that show the prime minister’s governing coalition falling several seats short of a parliamentary majority…Netanyahu’s coalition held 60 of the 120 seats in the Knesset before parliament was dissolved in July, and recent polls suggest his bloc could erode in next week’s election. A Walla survey published Tuesday projected just 48 seats for Netanyahu and his allies — 13 short of the 61 needed to form a government. A separate Channel 12 poll put his bloc at 51 seats.
JERUSALEM POST Fueled by a life’s mission, Netanyahu asks Israelis for time to ‘finish the job’ in Iran Netanyahu to ‘Post’: I want five more terms • ‘I’ll form gov’t with current coalition partners; Eisenkot ruled me out’ • Trump’s support ‘surprised’ PM, Israel must capitalize before tide turns in US