The twin fronts in the battle for Israel’s identity

“Bibi is still their champion,” Mr Avishai said.

Mr. Netanyahu also made clear at a news conference on Saturday that he has no intention of resigning, even after the war and even as his Likud party sinks in the opinion polls. a Channel 13 poll said the elections would now give the Likud only 16 seats and, together with the current coalition parties, only 45 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, compared to 38 seats for Netanyahu’s rival Benny Gantz and 71 seats for the opposition parties.

Ms. Scheindlin, the pollster, said Likud’s coordinated call for wartime unity after the court ruling was politically sensible because even the party’s supporters did not care as much about the judicial review as they did about other issues, including the outcome of the war. However, Mr Segal said the ruling could strengthen Likud’s support as it would anger many of the party’s voters.

Still, the calls for unity and the charge that the court ruling will harm the war effort are “quite cynical,” Ms. Scheindlin said, “given that it was the judicial reform law that actually tore the country apart.”

said Mr Netanyahu that “the court’s decision contradicts the people’s desire for unity, especially in a time of war,” while Itamar Ben Gvir, the Minister of National Security, said: “At a time when our soldiers are giving their lives for the people of Israel in Gaza every day, the Supreme Court judges decided to weaken their spirit.”

The subtext, Ms. Scheindlin said, is that “nothing we don’t like should happen until the war is over, and the war will never be over,” at least not for a very long time.

Nathan Odenheimer contributed reporting from Jerusalem.