Netanyahu Vows to Stay in Politics Even If He Loses Election

As polling data shifts, with some surveys placing Likud behind Gadi Eisenkot's Yisrael party and leaving Netanyahu's bloc without a governing majority, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sending a clear message to his inner circle: even if he fails to assemble the next government, he has no intention of leaving political life or vacating the Likud leadership.

"We'll do everything to win, but if we don't win --- I'm not resigning. I'll serve as opposition leader and we'll win the next elections," Netanyahu said in private conversations, according to a report by Anna Barsky in Maariv.

The remarks don't necessarily indicate Netanyahu expects to lose. Political sources intimately familiar with Likud and Netanyahu's campaign conduct warn against drawing such a conclusion. According to them, the message Netanyahu is establishing now also concerns the day after: losing power, should it happen, won't signal the opening of a succession battle within Likud.

The closest precedent from his perspective is 2021. When the Bennett-Lapid government was sworn in that June, removing him from the premiership, Netanyahu declared from the Knesset podium that if Likud was destined for opposition, it would do so "with its head held high" until he returned to lead the country. He signed off in English: "We will be back soon." By December 2022, Netanyahu had already returned to the prime minister's office.

Sources versed in his political conduct believe that experience also shapes how Netanyahu views the possibility of a future government without him today. "He's already seen a situation where it seemed everything was over," political sources say. "From his perspective, you wait, identify the weakness of the sitting coalition, and come back." The last time he lost power, Netanyahu didn't vacate the Likud leadership and returned to the premiership within about a year and a half.

Trump and Netanyahu during White House visit (Photo: The White House)

This statement also has an internal Likud address. "You have to ask why he's saying this now," say sources involved in party affairs. "One possibility is that he wants everyone to understand he's staying in the game. That they shouldn't start organizing for the day after." According to them, there's currently no evidence of an organized rebellion within Likud, but from the perspective of party seniors, the message is hard to miss.

This comes as a Channel 13 poll published this week showed that for the first time since the surprise attack on Simchat Torah morning nearly three years ago, Netanyahu's bloc leads the change bloc headed by Gadi Eisenkot. According to the poll, Netanyahu's bloc rises to a majority of 54 mandates, compared to 52 mandates for the change bloc. Eisenkot's Yisrael party continues to lead the political map with 22 mandates, while Netanyahu's Likud weakens to 18 mandates.