Netanyahu cancels Likud meeting for “security reasons”

O israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended today a party meeting leading the Likud, invoking “security reasons” on the eve of the legislative elections in Israel.

Tuesday’s elections, the first electoral act since the attacks of the Palestinian extremist group Hamas which in October 2023 struck Israel, take place in a time of deep crisis and polarisation of Israeli society.

The party meeting, with which Netanyahu intended to mobilise the Likud MPs in view of the elections, was cancelled shortly before the scheduled time for its initiation, according to information released by the Israeli Channel 12.

Netanyahu, who plays his re-election in Tuesday’s elections, continues to press ahead with a new military campaign against Iran – after the offensive launched together with the United States in February – and ordered the Israeli Armed Forces to launch an operation in the West Bank following the attack last week near Hebron, which caused the death of two Israeli military personnel and injuries in three others.

The attack ended with the death of two alleged Palestinian attackers by Israeli forces.

The opposition to Netanyahu continues to insist that Israel plays its future as a Jewish, democratic and liberal state in Tuesday's elections, at a time when the country is divided into two major blocs: one that advocates a nationalist and religious vision and another that claims the values on which the founding of the State of Israel is based.