Israel’s six-month
war on Gaza is testing US-Israeli ties like never before. Israeli Prime
Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is at the center of rising tensions between the two
close allies. It is not Israel’s right to defend itself and destroy Hamas,
which is at the heart of the crisis. Still, Netanyahu’s unrelenting and brazen
push to carry on with the massive destruction of the Gaza Strip, regardless of
the horrific scenes, the brutal tactics, and the shocking statistics, have
become the indelible hallmarks of this war.
اضافة اعلان
President Biden has made no secret of his frustration
with Netanyahu and his Far Right coalition’s provocative and confrontational
policies. Netanyahu’s Gaza war has become a US election issue, stripping Biden
of much-needed young and progressive Democrat votes. Netanyahu’s rejection of
Biden’s “red line” on the imminent offensive against Rafah has brought ties
between the two men to an inflection point.
Then, last week, the most prominent US Jewish legislator,
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, publicly rebuked Netanyahu’s handling of
the Gaza war and called for new elections in Israel. He said that Netanyahu has
“lost his way” and is an obstacle to peace in the region. Biden noted that
Schumer delivered a good speech, leaving Netanyahu to retort that the senator’s
statement was “inappropriate.” Republican lawmakers joined a chorus of Israeli
politicians in denouncing Schumer for interfering in Israeli democracy.
Other Western leaders had stopped short of singling out Netanyahu. Still, they made sure to criticize Israel publicly for hindering the flow of aid to Gaza, which is resulting in mass starvation and famine across the enclave and the death of Palestinian babies as a result of malnutrition and denial of medical care.
Other Western leaders had stopped short of singling out
Netanyahu. Still, they made sure to criticize Israel publicly for hindering the
flow of aid to Gaza, which is resulting in mass starvation and famine across
the enclave and the death of Palestinian babies as a result of malnutrition and
denial of medical care.
Domestically, Netanyahu’s approval ratings had been low
even before the October 7 attack by Hamas. They remain low even though a
majority of Israelis continue to support the war and the destruction of Hamas,
all while calling for new elections. Netanyahu’s refusal to approve a new
hostage exchange deal has polarized Israeli society even further and weakened
his Far Right partners in the polls for disregarding calls to prioritize the
return of Israeli captives.
Netanyahu has also rejected Biden’s post-war plans for
Gaza, refusing to hand over administration to the Palestinian Authority (PA),
withdrawing from Gaza, and embracing the two-state solution, which he says
rewards Hamas. In return, he has baffled his war Cabinet partners for failing
to provide a realistic post-war scenario.
The Biden White House has pressured Netanyahu to rein him
in. Washington has imposed sanctions on two West Bank Jewish settlements
involved in terrorizing Palestinians. The EU could follow suit soon. This is a
precedent that could lead to penalizing hundreds of settlers as well as foreign
donors.
The US has circulated a draft resolution to be submitted
to the UN Security Council sometime soon that supports international efforts to
establish “an immediate and sustained ceasefire” as part of a deal to release
hostages. The US had vetoed draft resolutions on four occasions that called for
such a ceasefire.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has
always been defiant and unconventional. Soon after the signing of the Oslo
Accords, he sought to clinch the premiership by denouncing then Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin and any settlement with the Palestinians. He single-handedly took
Israel off the peace path by empowering settlers and aligning himself with the
ultra-nationalists and ultra-religious fanatics. In the aftermath of the 2007
Hamas takeover of Gaza, Netanyahu saw an opportunity to play one Palestinian
faction against the other. It’s no secret that he had propped up Hamas in Gaza
against the PA in the West Bank for years by allowing Qatar to bring tens of
millions of dollars regularly into the blockaded enclave through Israeli
checkpoints.
Netanyahu’s calculations are now at odds with his allies at home. His war cabinet is split, and several rivals are vying for his place. The Israeli political establishment now views him as a liability. Families of hostages see his rejection of any deal to return their loved ones as a betrayal. Moreover, even if his army ventures into Rafah at a heavy civilian cost that will compound the humanitarian crisis, there are no guarantees that he can secure the decisive victory he has promised the public.
But October 7 changed everything. Netanyahu, recovering
from an unprecedented public backlash against his attempt to weaken the
judiciary and prevent oversight of the executive branch, used the war against
Hamas in Gaza not only to destroy the militant group but to carry out an
ambitious scheme to bury the two-state solution, the PA and the Oslo Accords
forever, all while delaying the inevitable: accountability for the October
security disaster.
As the US and most Western countries supported his war on
Gaza, Netanyahu and his army failed to secure a swift end to the onslaught. The
war dragged on, and the piles of dead Palestinian civilians, including women
and children, were too much to stomach for his Western allies, who faced angry
voters at home. The tide had changed, and his closest Western friends began
pressuring him to end the war.
As Netanyahu ignored such calls, Israel was facing
charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and accusations
of deliberately starving millions of Palestinians, all while feeling almost
total abandonment by the UN Security Council and the body of nations. Israel
had lost control of the narrative, and in the eyes of millions around the
world, who were mobilized mainly by social media activists and the flood of raw
images of daily massacres posted on such platforms, its claim that it was the
victim in all this had collapsed.
Netanyahu’s calculations are now at odds with his allies at
home. His war cabinet is split, and several rivals are vying for his place. The
Israeli political establishment now views him as a liability. Families of
hostages see his rejection of any deal to return their loved ones as a
betrayal. Moreover, even if his army ventures into Rafah at a heavy civilian
cost that will compound the humanitarian crisis, there are no guarantees that
he can secure the decisive victory he has promised the public.
For the Israeli political establishment, Netanyahu’s
so-called achievements in Gaza are now being eroded by the severe damage he has
done to Israel’s political assets abroad, especially in the United States. It
is time that he removes himself and lets someone else carry out a more subtle
approach to the penultimate phase of the war. Netanyahu has done a lot:
weakened Hamas, destroyed Gaza’s infrastructure, created a new buffer zone
inside the enclave, and partitioned the strip. There is no way Gaza can go back
to the pre-7 October reality.
His successor will carry out most of Netanyahu’s
objectives with less drama and fanfare while restoring ties with the US and
initiating damage control of Israel’s scarred public image. In all cases,
Netanyahu’s legacy in Gaza and beyond will likely endure: The two-state
solution would still be bogged down by piles of details and last-minute
addendums.
If elections were to be held today, Likud would be
downsized, and the Far Right would take a hit, but it would still have a voice
in the Knesset. A new coalition of right-of-center parties, most likely led by
Benny Gantz, would rule with little opposition.
What the Biden White House has come to realize is that
Netanyahu has become radioactive, both within Israel and beyond. The countdown
for his departure has begun.
Osama Al
Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman.
Disclaimer:
Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Jordan News' point of view.
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