What was the real success of Benjamin Netanyahu?

On Friday, Benjamin NetanyahuThe government has approved Israel’s plan to control the city of Gaza, where about one million Palestinians now live in half of Gaza’s population. Many were forced to shelter there; the Israeli military controlled 75 percent of the rest of the territory. Netanyahu’s plan is a necessary condition for “eliminating Hamas”, which is opposed by most of Israel’s military leaders, even by many centralist and center-right politicians. But he appears to intend to continue the Israeli war in Gaza, in part to maintain support from the far-right members in the cabinet, who spoke openly about relocating it and promoting “immigration” of Palestinian residents. If it does do this for a few days or weeks, a real invasion of Gaza City may not have happened – there is speculation that the threat of the invasion is a negotiating strategy, even if Hamas releases the remaining twenty or so living hostages still in Gaza. But if the invasion moves forward, it will almost certainly exacerbate the terrible humanitarian situation. As of Saturday, 22 Gaza people have starved to death since the war began, while those still facing a worsening humanitarian crisis, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The total death toll in Palestine is now over 60,000.

I recently spoke to Amos Harel by phone HarezRegarding the military and political aspects of Netanyahu’s announcement. In our conversation, we also have been edited with a long and clear degree, and we also discuss Netanyahu’s real goal is to replant Gaza by strengthening the war, whether there are plans to replant Gaza with Israeli settlers, and what has changed since the war began.

Netanyahu took military advice here, what made this radical step?

There is always a question of what Netanyahu actually means. He is not saying what he says, nor what he means – so it is sometimes difficult to collect. He said loudly that it was a way to ultimately defeat and destroy Hamas, and he said that since negotiations on the hostage deal lost all hope, the right thing to do is to restore military pressure on Hamas. Therefore, his suggestion is a renewed focus on the city of Gaza, which has never been done in the early days of the war since Israel. Then, this time he claimed that if they push the population out of Canada City and then eventually deal with Hamas militants there, it will gradually lead to Hamas failure and, in a miraculous way, the hostages will be released.

So you force people out and Hamas stayed and you beat Hamas? Isn’t this idea not the idea that Netanyahu has talked about before, and it doesn’t work? Is there anything new here?

I’m not a big Netanyahu fan and you have to admit that previous attempts to take over the city didn’t achieve what he claimed to be Hamas’ goal. But if you look at what happened to Khan Younis and Rafa, Israel did overturn the population almost completely. It happened very quickly. You remember a heated debate on Rafah between the Biden administration and Netanyahu, but Israel did push the population away and kill many Hamas militants there. Will anything different happen this time? I don’t think so.

The main difference from that time is that Hamas is no longer a military organization. There was a hierarchy in the past. Have a close command and control network. Someone in charge makes decisions, etc. This is no longer the case. What you have now is a terrorist organization that uses guerrilla methods. Most of its leaders were killed. Most of its fighters were either injured or died. They now have young replacements, sometimes children who receive basic training and are sent to the frontline. How do you defeat such an organization? There are no IWO JIMA moments.

My suspicion is that he is not true. His political survival was interested in extending the war. This is the best excuse for not doing anything else in the country, including not conducting an independent investigation on October 7. If a busy battle occurs, his corruption trial may be delayed. [Opposition politicians have called for a commission to look into the security and intelligence failures on October 7th. Netanyahu has rejected the idea, saying it would be predetermined, and warned about the role of the “deep state.”] Extreme Messian right-wing parties will be happy with the new attempt to occupy the Belt.

So essentially, they tried this elsewhere else in the war, and despite the humanitarian consequences, they did make the population stand out.

They also destroyed the entire city.

But even though Israel did kill many Hamas fighters and further weaken their chain of command, its structure did not actually exist at this point. And, even without a series of commanders, you only have this organization that is essentially new friends recruited from the population.

Yes of course. Hamas has changed the rules of the game. And, if you are not used to other games, the whole discussion about destruction is almost meaningless. It can be said that you are not fighting a terrorist army. You are fighting a new or different version of the organization that is not concerned about casualties, destruction, the population on the ground and its suffering. And, even if there are leaders, they have many leaders since the beginning of the war. Others were assassinated by Israel.

What you are describing seems to be a rebellion that requires some kind of political solution.

To some extent, yes. Despite all my criticism of Netanyahu’s policies, I cannot avoid the fact that I fight the enemy here. This is not the power of your ability to reason easily or based on the logical behaviors that Israel uses.

What kind of logic are you talking about?

This is a good question. The logic is that if Israel exerts enough military pressure, they will certainly be in trouble, because it is illogical to continue to resist. This is not the right way. This is not how Hamas works. They have extreme jihad ideology, and I think for them it’s more for a long time than it is now and now. If the Gaza Strip is destroyed, it doesn’t mean their new leaders will feel some remorse and decide to stop.

I’ve been reading that Netanyahu’s latest push is not popular in Israel, and that Netanyahu is a political animal that looks a little contradictory on the surface, but you said earlier that it might put him in power. What do you mean?

First, it is deeply unpopular according to the polls, but so is the government. All public polls have shown profound distrust of Netanyahu since the beginning of the war and indicated that he would lose if the election was held. Most support the hostage deal and pay any price to get them back, including the release of all Hamas prisoners in Israeli prisons. And, for the independent commission of inquiry on October 7, it is a very stable majority, which is extremely important, as it may eventually show Netanyahu’s responsibility. But you need to vote without trust in order to face the election. What he did better than anyone else was to maintain his alliance in any way necessary. Although unpopular, his majority in the Israeli parliament was stable. To maintain this, what he needs is to satisfy his partner.

And then, of course, you have two extreme right-wing parties Itama Ben-GVIR and Bezalel Smotrich, so far, they want very clearly. Not only do they want to win the war; they want to completely destroy Gaza. They want what they call “voluntary immigration” which is actually forcing immigration after any Palestinians in Gaza intolerable lives, and they want to rebuild their settlements. So far, it is clear that these politicians are ready to be killed by Hamas. It doesn’t matter to them.

Do you think Netanyahu wants a settlement in Gaza?

I think Netanyahu wants to survive politically. I think if there is a possibility that there are forced immigrants to Palestinians and that at the same time, he and Israel can survive, then he would want to do so. But I think he’s more acute than that, he knows it’s hard to achieve, and the international backlash will be huge. Therefore, he did not look for a target. There are always a few balls in the air, and he decides at the last minute to survive for him, and action is better for him. But this is survival beyond survival.

He comes from a well-known right-wing family. He spent his entire career on the right, and was a friend of the settlement. He warmly welcomes Donald Trump’s proposal, and no matter how much you take it, it will actually force the Gaza people to leave Gaza and create a new “Riviera” And what I imagined was some existence in Israel. Why do we not believe that Netanyahu might also desire this result, even if he didn’t do it overnight?