Netanyahu Deflects Genocide Accusations With Victimhood Campaign Ahead of Elections

Benjamin Netanyahu stands accused of overseeing a genocide while insisting he remains a victim. As Israel prepares for its national elections, the prime minister reaches for an old playbook that relies on grievance and blame-shifting. He is Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest-serving leader in Israeli history who has also overseen the country's worst internal security failure. Critics say he clings to power by responding to accusations with deflections and claims of victimhood rather than facing them.

In recent days, a report from Haaretz claimed the United Arab Emirates warned Netanyahu about the Hamas attack on October 7th. Instead of reflecting on these allegations, his camp launched legal action and called for investigations into foreign interference in Israel's upcoming vote. A week prior to this, the prime minister oversaw a political advertisement that painted him as a bullied child. The video showed classmates taunting a boy with signs reading "anyone but Bibi," referencing Netanyahu and his Likud party.

Netanyahu has led the nation for eighteen years across three separate terms. He is widely acknowledged as a key player who shifted Israeli politics sharply to the right. Yet, he continues to use populist discourses to portray himself as fighting the establishment. Israeli political psychologist Neta Oren from George Mason University told Al Jazeera that self-victimization is a central part of his strategy. For years, he has presented himself as the representative of ordinary people standing against the elite. This narrative persists even as accusations mount around him.

What drives a man to cling to power despite such heavy criticism? It seems Netanyahu believes the story of the victim wins more votes than the truth ever could. His team knows how to spin any blowback into another opportunity for sympathy. The public must decide if this tactic can still hold or if it has finally run its course.

Populism thrives when you sit in opposition, yet a different dynamic emerges for Israel's longest-serving prime minister. She noted this clearly. Netanyahu has chosen to blame his failures on other forces, specifically the deep state, while painting himself as their victim. He frames his supporters the same way, claiming they suffer under an old elite. This approach can make him look weak or ineffective as a leader. Yet, the intense sense of victimhood among his base and their hatred for that old elite keeps this framing useful for keeping support alive.

Recently, Netanyahu seems to be racing against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to own the legacy of the far-right Zionist militia Irgun. This group operated until David Ben-Gurion's first government took power in 1949. Both leaders held rival news conferences to honor what they call the oppression faced by the militia. The facts are grim; that militia killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians and British soldiers during the mandate period. These tactics mirror strategies used by populists worldwide who ally with those feeling opposed to the state while distancing themselves from past scandals.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu tried to shift blame for failures before and during the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. He claimed defense officials deliberately chose not to wake him during the first hours of an attack he could have contained. His wife Sara Netanyahu went further in a statement to pro-government Channel 14 last month. She suggested opposition leader and former General Yair Golan must have known about Hamas plans when he woke up and drove straight to the site. Such methods appear elsewhere, like with US President Donald Trump, Hungary's Viktor Orban, and India's Narendra Modi. However, Netanyahu's use of victimization by the establishment traces back further to around 1995, after former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Back then, he claimed Israel's left had forgotten what it meant to be Jewish.

Analysts describe this specific brand of populism as tailored for a specifically Israeli audience and a shared sense of Zionist and Jewish identity among the Likud base. Many supporters are Mizrahi, drawn from migrants across the Middle East and North Africa. They typically come from lower-income backgrounds. These demographics shape how political messages land in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu feeds off this specific grievance: his supporters feel pushed against the Ashkenazi European establishment in Israel. Dani Filc, a professor at Ben Gurion University and author of Hegemony and Populism in Israel, points out that claiming victimhood is standard fare for populists. "Populism builds on a victimised people," Filc told Al Jazeera. "His acting out of victimhood echoes with the fact that many Likud supporters have a collective memory of being excluded and sometimes oppressed by the mainly Ashkenazi establishment, and also plays with Jewish collective memory as victims." This rhetoric has driven every clash Netanyahu staged against the judiciary and media since 2023. His corruption trial in 2020 and his judicial overhaul were both framed by the Israeli right-wing not as legal or constitutional matters but as a fight against an unelected "deep state." They claim this shadow government includes members of the press and courts. Daniel Bar-Tal, a psychology professor at Tel Aviv University, says this story lets Netanyahu sidestep blame for government failures. "Netanyahu desires the status of victim," Bar-Tal told Al Jazeera. He blames the deep state he built and the officers he nominated just to stay clean and avoid responsibility. To be a victim offers many advantages. You can act as a perpetrator while disengaging from ethical norms, and so on.