Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention of going to early elections, he announced as thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv for anti-government protests.
Netanyahu's popularity plummeted in an Oct. 7 poll after a Hamas attack on Israel that sparked a war in the Gaza Strip.
The anti-government protests that rocked the country for much of 2023 have largely subsided during the war. However, protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv again this evening calling for new elections scheduled for 2026.
According to local media, the crowd was much smaller than last year's mass protests of thousands of people.
“I want to say to the government that the opportunity you got, you have destroyed what you could destroy. It's time to fix all the bad things you've done, people,” said one protester, his head draped with an Israeli flag.
Netanyahu was asked at a press conference about calls within the ruling Likud party for early elections now that the war in Gaza has ended.
“The last thing we need now is an election and interest in elections that will immediately divide us,” he said. “We need solidarity now,” he noted.
