Current sectionIsrael NewsHaaretz TodayHaaretz Today On two occasions over this past week, Netanyahu's bodyguards have drawn long guns on Israeli civilians, behavior that telegraphs a sense of intense, even mortal, personal embattlement. Netanyahu does not just fear an Iranian assassination plot – he fears Israel's own citizensShare to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribe08:15 PM • August 25 2026 IDTAs the October 27 election looms ever closer, there is, among many Israelis in the anti-Netanyahu camp – and especially those on the liberal-left – a growing sense of foreboding. The relative quiet of the late-August streets and the out-of-office messages only deepen the feeling that we are in the quiet before the storm.CommentsIn the NewsTop Court Halts Coalition Funds for Haredi Education, West Bank SettlementsFar-right ex-IDF General Ofer Winter Reveals New Party Ahead of Israeli ElectionThe IDF Can Condemn Succot. It Can't Escape Its Role in Settler ViolenceAmended Montreal City Council Resolution Rejects Call to Suspend Israel TiesHow Israel's Parliament Speaker Turned the Knesset Into Netanyahu's Private ClubRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMIAn Israeli Startup Is Reinventing Salmon Farming. It May Upend a Global IndustryHasan Piker Talks Hamas, anti-Zionism and Why Americans Are Fed Up With IsraelDavid Remnick on Netanyahu, Mamdani and Israel's 'Failure to Face' GazaBeing Israeli Abroad Has Become Embarrassing. You Don't Talk About ItGermany Found Its Israeli Villain. Will It Continue to Ignore What Produced Him?AIPAC's Last-minute Spending Spree Fails to Block California Progressive