For a long time now, Israeli music charts have been dominated by the song “Always Love Me”, which has earned around 44 million views on YouTube – a remarkable number given Israel’s population and the relatively small number of people worldwide who understand Hebrew.
And it is precisely through this song that one can understand Israel in 2025: religious terminology and symbolism, unprecedented optimism accompanied by a demand that everything “always be good”, zero self-criticism, and above all, complete detachment from reality.
This song played everywhere over the past year, while in parallel, Israel carried out a genocide in Gaza, lost around 450 soldiers, saw dozens of Israelis killed in security incidents, experienced a rise in military suicides and PTSD cases, and witnessed a surge in domestic violence, alongside continued political and economic uncertainty – despite the ceasefire agreement.
As Israelis celebrate to this song, 2025 will also be remembered as the most successful year of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s career.
Five years ago, three criminal indictments were filed against Netanyahu, and in the months that followed, the Israeli opposition gained a majority in the Knesset and managed to form a government, while Netanyahu briefly became opposition leader.
In November 2022, Netanyahu returned to power and swiftly launched a judicial overhaul to weaken the Supreme Court, triggering unprecedented internal turmoil, as hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in weekly protests. In one incident, his wife, Sara Netanyahu, was besieged inside a Tel Aviv hair salon.
Making matters worse, a year after Netanyahu’s return to office came the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack – the most devastating blow Israel had suffered since 1948, while Netanyahu was simultaneously dealing with accusations and court hearings.
Now, at the end of 2025, his political situation could hardly be better.
Weakening the legal system
Last month, a formal request for a presidential pardon was submitted to President Isaac Herzog. While in the past, pardons have typically required resignation from political life, today the most powerful man in the world, US President Donald Trump, personally advocates for it. To eliminate any doubt, Netanyahu makes clear he has no intention of retiring from political life.
Netanyahu also succeeded this year in weakening Israel’s legal institutions and waging a persistent battle against the attorney general, supported by a coalition built on the messianic right, who have leveraged the situation to expand their own power.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has expanded his influence over Israeli police, with appointments based on loyalty and ideological alignment. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi has pushed media reforms favouring right-wing outlets and harming public broadcasting.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a position within the defence ministry, has used his dual role to implement structural changes in the occupied territories, transferring authority from military to civilian bodies – de facto annexation.
Social Equality Minister May Golan has worked tirelessly to cut budgets intended for Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Most importantly, Netanyahu has managed to reshape the leadership of Israel’s security agencies. Earlier this year, army chief of staff Herzi Halevi stepped down amid sustained pressure and accusations from Netanyahu and his allies over the failures of 7 October. Netanyahu swiftly installed in his place Eyal Zamir, an aggressive general who previously ran the defence ministry.
The past year also saw a crisis erupt between Netanyahu’s government and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, ultimately forcing the latter to resign in June. Netanyahu then appointed in his place David Zini, one of the most extreme and openly messianic right-wing figures, widely seen in Israel as someone who could exploit the Shin Bet as a political tool aligned with Netanyahu’s ideology.
And the designated next head of the Mossad is also Netanyahu’s chosen candidate, Roman Gofman, who does not come from Israel’s intelligence institutions but rather served as Netanyahu’s military secretary, and before that as a brigade and division commander.
Military challenges ahead
Amid this backdrop, Netanyahu continues to manage the political system despite deep tensions with Haredi parties, with whom he has long maintained a coalition based on shared interests. Haredi parties have still not broken ranks with Netanyahu, even as a dispute over the drafting of yeshiva students has tested their alliance.
The past year will be remembered as one in which Netanyahu succeeded in dismantling Israel’s institutional checks and balances for his own benefit. While Israelis dance and revel in a sense of euphoria, Netanyahu is fully aware of Israel’s damaged international standing and the military challenges ahead.
Indeed, 2026 threatens to be a year of war, amid a fragile Lebanon ceasefire, deepening Israeli occupation in southern Syria, and concerns about the growing international legitimacy of Syria’s new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, who is backed by Gulf states, Turkey and the US.
Most importantly, there is Gaza. This year, we learned that there are no limits to Israel’s absolute cynicism towards human life, and it has no commitment whatsoever to ceasefire agreements.
If not for its strategic misstep in the September Doha strike, which pushed Arab and Muslim states to pressure the US to pursue a ceasefire, Israel would likely have continued its killing campaign into the new year. For two years, there was no significant public outcry against the government’s policy in Gaza.
As we enter 2026, Netanyahu – backed by full legitimacy from Israeli society – will continue on his offensive path, both externally and internally.
With the weakening of state mechanisms and the cultivation of fear among civil servants who might dare point out failures or act independently, Israel faces an Arab and Muslim world that is still driven by narrow interests, and has been slow to take a clear stance against Israel’s expansion in Gaza, the West Bank, southern Lebanon and southern Syria. From Netanyahu’s point of view, there is no reason to stop.
And with the slowdown in mass killings in Gaza, as the issue fades from international media coverage, the current reality is likely to continue into 2026.
The fact that Israelis sing about how good their situation is, and how much they “deserve better”, illustrates just how detached Israeli society is from its own reality, which is being led astray by a megalomaniacal leader and a messianic right-wing movement that continues to push the entire region off balance.
Meanwhile, Israeli society remains focused solely on itself, devoid of empathy or concern for anyone else.
Source: MEE
