Nearly every poster, stump speech or televised debate seems to reference the attack, which has scarred the country and remains fresh in the minds of voters. Three years on, the worst security failure in Israel’s history now threatens to end the career of its longest-serving prime minister.
On the morning of Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists fired several thousand rockets into Israel and thousands of those Islamic terrorists attacked through holes blown in the border fence or with boats or motorized paragliders. Some 1,200 Israeli men, women and children were brutally murdered and 251 others taken hostage.
Netanyahu and his opponents have put Oct. 7 at the forefront of their campaigns — for different reasons.
His opponents — from across the political spectrum — call his outgoing coalition “the massacre government.” Netanyahu says he has led a “war of redemption.”
Netanyahu has meanwhile denied reports in American media outlets that the United Arab Emirates and Egypt warned him ahead of Oct. 7.
He insists the country is stronger than ever.
“Our enemies expected us to collapse,” Netanyahu said in a recent address to the United Nations. “Well, we didn’t collapse. Instead, we rose and fought like lions.”
