(FILES) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in a press conference with US President Donald Trump in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on September 29, 2025. US President Donald Trump said on October 8, 2025 that Israel and Hamas had agreed on the first phase of his Gaza peace plan, hailing it as a “historic and unprecedented” step to ending the two-year-old war. Palestinian militant group Hamas would release all hostages while Israel would pull its troops back to an agreed on line, Trump said after talks in Egypt on his 20-point peace plan resulted in a deal. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that he would run for office in the November 2026 elections and expected to win.
Appearing on a programme on the right-wing Channel 14, Netanyahu was asked whether he intended to seek another term. “Yes,” he replied.
When pressed on whether he expected to win, the veteran leader responded: “Yes.”
Leader of Likud, Israel’s main right-wing party, Netanyahu holds the record for the longest time served as Israel’s prime minister — more than 18 years in total, with interruptions, since 1996.
In the last elections, his Likud party won 32 seats in the Knesset, its ultra-Orthodox allies 18, and the Religious Zionism alliance 14, a record showing for the far right.
His current term began with a controversial judicial overhaul plan that sparked months of mass protests, with tens of thousands of Israelis taking to the streets almost daily.
Since the start of the war triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack from Gaza, Netanyahu has also faced mounting criticism from families of hostages over his handling of the war.
AFP
Disclaimer
Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.