Netanyahu Says He Won't Quit, Even After the War

Despite his governments decline in the polls and the protests in the streets, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told Israelis he has no intention of resigning—even after the fighting against Hamas ends. The question was asked of him during a televised news conference on Saturday night. "The only thing I intend to be rid of is Hamas," the prime minister said. Political divides that had been pushed to the side after Hamas' attack on Oct. 7 are reemerging, the New York Times reports, and analysts said Netanyahu, dependent on far-right allies, appears bent on preserving his ruling coalition's grip on power.

A former member of Netanyahu's Cabinet appeared on Sunday to endorse the argument that the political divisions emboldened Hamas to attack and apologized for her contributions to the polarization. "I'm here sitting and telling you, the democratic, secular public: I sinned against you, I caused pain for you, I caused you to fear for your lives here, and I am sorry for this," Galit Distel Atbaryan, a lawmaker in Netanyahu's Likud Party, told Channel 13 TV, per the AP.

Distel Atbaryan was a major supporter of the prime minister and had been unsparing in her criticism of his opposition. In the interview, she cited her role in the uproar over Netanyahu's plan to change the nation's judicial system. "I created a split, I created a rift, and I created tension," Distel Atbaryan said. "And this tension brought weakness. And this weakness, in many ways, brought massacre." (The US Navy sank Houthi boats in the Red Sea after an attack on a commercial ship.)