Despite his government's failure to anticipate Hamas' deadly attack, don't count Netanyahu out politically

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Brent E Sasley, University of Texas at Arlington

(THE CONVERSATION) Since the brutal Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, news analysts and the public have focused on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his role in the intelligence failure that preceded the attack, in which 1,400 people were killed.

In other parliamentary democracies, a failure of this magnitude would normally cost leaders their jobs, or at least spark challenges to their leadership.

But a closer look at Netanyahu’s political history shows that he is not like other leaders.

Over the last 24 years, he has been able not only to survive the rough and hard-hitting Israeli political arena, but to stay on top of it. Despite numerous setbacks and challenges that might well have terminated the career of other leaders, Netanyahu has come back to lead his party and take the prime minister’s office, again and again. His first term, 1996 to 1999, ended in a humiliating defeat. But he returned to his party’s leadership at the end of 2005. Between 2009 and 2023, he was able to form a coalition government five times.

It is possible that this time...