As furious protesters take to the streets, Netanyahu may well have reached his political dead-end | Alon Pinkas

Israelis have kept their contempt for the prime minister in check for the sake of the war effort. Is his time finally up?

Despondent and livid Israelis, exuding deep anger and fury, have taken to the streets. Once it became known on Saturday that Hamas had executed six hostages, Israelis staged the largest demonstration against the government since the war in Gaza began. Those hostages could have been saved had Benjamin Netanyahu assented to a hostage deal. But he didn't. In fact, he actively undermined the possibility for months, evading and reneging constantly.

The 350,000 who protested in Tel Aviv were the equivalent of about 2.4 million Britons or 12 million Americans gathering in the same place for the same cause. Immediately, the question of whether this was a political inflection point for Netanyahu was raised.

Alon Pinkas served as Israel's consul general in New York from 2000 to 2004. He is now a columnist for Haaretz

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