Netanyahu's twin war goals may be a mission impossible

FULL-COURT PRESS Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu faces increasing pressure from all sides (Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK / PRASHANTRAJSINGH)

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inyamin Netanyahu could be excused for fearing that the World War III Donald Trump is predicting has already washed up on Israel’s shores.

As Israel’s multifront war with Iranian proxies enters its 12th month, the pressure from all sides has become relentless, leaving Israel more isolated, globally and domestically, than ever before.

Over the weekend, CIA director William Burns added his voice to the cascading calls for Netanyahu to show “political will” and cave to Hamas’s cease-fire terms, even if that means bringing home just 30 living hostages and stranding dozens more in Gaza.

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz advised Netanyahu to “start moving” in the direction of a two-state solution, a statement that fueled Trump’s latest claim to a Republican Jewish Coalition gathering that if the Harris-Walz ticket wins in November, Israel has less than two years to live.

America’s former colonial master, Great Britain, has leveled a partial arms embargo on Israel. The Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University issued a fresh warning that Russian agents are conducting hostile influence activities against the Israeli public in the mainstream media and on social networks, aimed at undermining public confidence in the IDF and harming the strategic alliance between Israel and the US.

Street demonstrations in Tel Aviv and other major cities demanding the Israeli government “bring them home now” have crescendoed following Hamas’s cold-blooded murder of six hostages. Israel’s largest labor union, the Histadrut, called an illegal, politically motivated anti-government strike in support of the demonstrations. Even though it backfired, foreign media outlets dutifully and falsely reported the labor unrest as a major turning point.

More subtly, Israel’s attorney general is ramping up her own brand of strong-arm tactics with Netanyahu’s fragile coalition, applying legal pressure to pass a new draft law unpalatable to chareidim and supporting edicts to slash or eliminate funding for yeshivos and day care programs.

This full-court press could force the best team to turn over the ball, especially when the media reinforces it by pushing biased, misleading, and false narratives.

The first very misleading narrative, peddled by the Biden administration and amplified by the media, is that Israel and Hamas have agreed to 90% of the terms of a cease-fire and hostage release, and Netanyahu killed the deal by inserting a new demand that the IDF retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor to stop Hamas from smuggling weapons and personnel from Egypt’s side of the corridor into southern Gaza.

There’s nothing devious or immoral about insisting on new terms when circumstances change. When Israel and Hamas first began talks, the IDF had not yet invaded Rafah or taken control of the Philadelphi Corridor and weren’t fully aware of the extent of Hamas’s underground smuggling enterprise. Now that they have proof, it would be irresponsible and reckless for Netanyahu to let this slide.

To set the record straight, as Netanyahu did in his news conference with the foreign press last week, Hamas has called for 29 changes in terms of the original deal. They keep upping their demands, which include a total IDF withdrawal from Gaza, and the release of hundreds of Palestinian terrorists and prisoners with blood on their hands and the thirst to draw new blood, placing Israeli citizens at risk of a rearmed and reinvigorated Hamas.

Riddled with Hypocrisy

A second biased narrative claims that Bibi carries on with the war because it serves his political purposes. According to that line of reasoning, if Bibi inks a deal with Hamas, his right-wing partners Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir will quit the coalition, leading to new elections. And once Bibi is booted from office, it becomes easier to convict him of bribery and breach-of-trust charges in his trial, which began in May 2020 and is the longest running show off-Broadway.

Both arguments are faulty.

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir might kick and scream, but the latest polls show that both men would lose Knesset seats if they bolted for new elections. They are unlikely to find a more supportive coalition than what they have now and both men are just learning how to flex the muscles of the finance and national security ministries under their respective control.

As to Netanyahu’s trials, some people have conveniently forgotten that the three-judge panel trying the cases has already recommended that prosecutors drop the bribery charges due to lack of evidence. The prosecution declined to take them up on that before resting its case, and the defense will start presenting theirs when the trials resume in December.

This narrative that argues Bibi puts his interests ahead of the country’s is also riddled with hypocrisy and tainted by left-wing favoritism for Bibi’s rivals.

Many Israeli pundits would leave you with the impression that Benny Gantz (who has become irrelevant since he quit the war cabinet) is above politics. According to this media narrative, he is a gentleman of the first order who could have given Winston Churchill lessons in statesmanship.

We are supposed to believe that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who publicly contradicts and undermines Netanyahu’s positions, doesn’t have one political bone in his body. Every living fiber of Gallant’s being is focused on the defense of the nation. Although he knows the Likud will boot him from his number-two post in the party in the next primary, nothing he says or does smacks of a bid to redefine himself before the next election. Or so we are told.

Joe Biden, Tony Blinken, and the rest of Biden’s Middle East team are similarly altruistic. When they pressure Israel in every way, shape, and form, their only goal is to usher in a new era of peace, harmony, and humanitarian ideals. Winning enough Arab and anti-Israel votes in the November presidential election never crosses their minds.

Only Bibi has personal considerations.

But here’s Bibi’s real problem.

He has yet to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. He has never admitted to any mistakes or weaknesses, including his part in the misconceptions that led to October 7. He has never leveled with the people that his twin goals of conquering Hamas and bringing every hostage home alive might be a mission impossible.

He can’t say this outright, but he can note his accomplishments in freeing almost half of the original hostages, either through negotiations or rescue missions.

He must keep pushing his narrative that Israel is holding down the fort on the front lines of a war of civilizations, of good against evil and truth versus falsehood, and he must cultivate and empower more media proxies that will validate and disseminate that message worldwide.

He also must fight the accusations that he’s the two-state-solution deal-killer. Aside from the fact that the Palestinians have rejected every deal Israel has ever offered, Netanyahu should remind Tim Walz and others like him that a two-state solution has failed to materialize in the promised land under seven Israeli prime ministers not named Netanyahu — namely Rabin, Peres, Barak, Sharon, Olmert, Bennett, and Lapid. Some have tried harder than others to make it happen, but maybe it’s not just Bibi’s fault?

Having said this, nothing glib will salvage Bibi’s political career forever. There is logic to the argument that a less polarizing figure within the Likud could lower the flames inside the country and bring new ideas to the table. The Likud could oust Bibi in the next primary, or the voters could ditch the Likud if they decide the party owns the lion’s share of the blame for the sorrows that have devoured so many lives in the last year.

That would be the democratic way of changing leaders, rather than chasing them from office by amateurish opponents, overzealous prosecutors, and anarchistic protestors who are just as politically motivated as any politician, even if they hide behind a veneer of statesmanship, the rule of law, or enlightened populism.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1028)