The elections: Nothing’s changed. Everything’s changed

Netanyahu lost his majority, but he retains power. So in that sense nothing has changed. Bibi can keep on running the country for now unless the opposition manages to form a majority, something which can be very difficult because they would need the Arabs and Liberman to form a majority, and Liberman is against joining with the Arabs.

Trump might decide after the midterms to attack Iran, and Netanyahu seems ready to join him. Perhaps this is the final attack needed to either get meaningful concessions from Iran, or even possibly to effect regime change in Iran.

So in a way nothing has changed. Netanyahu is still Prime Minister, he’s still running the show for now. And he might go ahead with his desire to attack Iran and to get rid of the threat once and for all.

But in a sense everything has changed. The Israeli people have changed. Even three years after October 7, when many were blaming the prime minister and demanding an independent inquiry, nevertheless Netanyahu‘s bloc still defeated the opposition bloc.

And even among the opposition itself, almost all have said clearly that there will not be a Palestinian state.

So everything has changed since October 7 and also now. Everything has changed, because Israelis have developed a firm backbone, determined to not give away land, determined to proactively mobilize against an enemy. The Israeli people have given Netanyahu the mandate to carry on. Nothing has changed but everything has changed.