TEL AVIV, July 10. /TASS/. The incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will take part in the upcoming autumn parliamentary elections, his Likud party, which leads the current ruling coalition, announced on social media X.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu will participate in the upcoming elections and will win, with God's help," the party said in a statement.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump, in an interview with ABC, expressed doubt that Netanyahu would want to run in the next elections."
Netanyahu has won six elections as a member of the Likud party and has headed the Israeli government for a total of 17 years, albeit intermittently. He first became prime minister in 1996, staying in office until 1999. He later returned to power in 2009 and remained prime minister until 2021, when he ceded power to a broad coalition led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, who took turns as prime minister after him.
The country’s current government, led by Netanyahu, was formed at the end of 2022 following an early parliamentary election in November of that year. The coalition was built around the right-wing Likud party, which won 32 seats in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament). Extreme right-wing and ultra-Orthodox political forces joined the Cabinet. In total, the coalition holds 64 seats out of 120.