The resumption of intensive fighting with Ronen Bar — the center left’s latest darling — still in the picture worked to Netanyahu’s advantage

The Shabak director may have failed on October 7th, but he’s not in a hurry to step aside (Photo: Flash90)

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The image of Prime Minister Netanyahu sitting next to Shin Bet head Ronen Bar to oversee Operation Might and Sword — the resumption of the war in Gaza — distilled Israel’s surreal political reality. Just two days earlier, Netanyahu announced his intention to have Bar dismissed at the next cabinet meeting.

In that sense, the operation last Tuesday night was reminiscent of the Hezbollah pager operation. Then, Netanyahu sat shoulder-to-shoulder with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, having just come from a conversation with Gideon Saar, whom he was courting to replace Gallant, on the 14th floor of the Kiryah.

Benny Gantz, who served as Netanyahu’s defense minister during the 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls, after their relations had hit a snag, told me at the time about Bibi’s unique talent for compartmentalization. As someone who sees emotion as nothing but a useful tool, he doesn’t find it difficult to hold a professional discussion with someone he was trying to take out a minute ago.

The flip side of the coin is evident in the new alliance with Foreign Minister Gideon Saar — whose return to the Likud was formalized last week. During Saar’s three-year break from politics, I asked him about his relations with Netanyahu. Saar explained that that was the wrong question. Netanyahu doesn’t do friendship, and he doesn’t maintain relationships with anyone out of the game. In the same way, he has no problem remaining professional with his rivals.

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The resumption of intensive fighting with Ronen Bar — the center left’s latest darling — still in the picture worked to Netanyahu’s advantage. The complicated situation allowed Netanyahu to rebuff claims by the opposition — but also by some of the hostages’ families — that the strikes in Gaza were merely a political ploy to bring Ben-Gvir back into the government.

No less crucial was the White House’s full backing of Israel’s version of events vis-à-vis the breakdown of the talks with Hamas, even as the Americans launched their own strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. With reservists from the other side of the political divide being asked to return to battle, consensus is key. Ronen Bar’s participation was the best stamp of legitimacy Netanyahu could hope for.

Cabinet ministers were told that the weeks-long waiting period since the deal’s effective end had served Israel far better than Hamas. The shipments of American armaments and D-9 tractors, withheld by Biden and released by Trump, required weeks to become operational. Incoming IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir also asked for a short window to present a plan that wasn’t dependent on the meager scraps left by his predecessor.

Netanyahu is still building the case that the immediate purpose of the campaign is to exert pressure on Hamas, forcing it to release hostages without an Israeli commitment to end the war; and that Israel must retain the perimeter zone and the Philadelphi Corridor for the long term.

As on the Syrian border, so on Gaza’s. One of Netanyahu’s key takeaways from October 7 relates to the lack of a buffer zone — Israel can no longer afford to allow its enemies to build up on the fence.

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Netanyahu wants to arrive at the next elections — whose date he’s keeping a surprise — having cleared out all of the defense officials who served beside him on October 7, hoping to create the sense that everyone responsible for the fiasco has paid the price. A year’s service alongside the new cohort of defense officials brought in to fix the mistakes of the past will turn Bibi from presiding over the disaster to bringing the renewal.

In the meantime, Netanyahu has strengthened his coalition, easily passing the state budget, which was seen as a potential landmine. The first step was the Likud’s approval of Saar’s return. Phase two was Otzma Yehudit’s return to the government, after Netanyahu caved to all of Ben-Gvir’s demands — from cutting off the electricity and humanitarian aid to Gaza, to the government’s stated intent to oust the attorney general and the head of the Shin Bet. And, of course, the resumption of the war in Gaza.

Saar’s addition to the government in September last year neutralized Ben-Gvir’s threats to bring down the government. In a chad gadya of sorts, Ben-Gvir’s return now neutralizes the threat by Yitzchak Goldknopf of Agudas Yisrael to topple the government unless a draft law is passed. On the eve of the Jewish festival of freedom, Netanyahu heads a stable government, none of whose coalition members is strong enough to topple it on its own.

At the same time, Netanyahu is fighting another front against the two officials he’s marked for dismissal — Attorney General Baharav-Miara and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar. The pair won’t give up without a fight, retaliating with the “Qatargate” investigations against Netanyahu’s aides, who are suspected of receiving money from Qatar.

Last wek, for the first time, Netanyahu echoed Trump’s rhetoric about the “deep state.” Netanyahu opened the cabinet meeting that okayed Ben-Gvir’s return as police minister (against the opinion of the attorney general, who had declared him ineligible) with an academic monologue on the history of the “deep state” in Western democracies.

With her serial opposition to every government measure, Baharav-Miara has become the real opposition leader. But you have to pick your battles. By flooding the zone with proposals she was sure to shoot down, Netanyahu gained the legitimacy to ignore her advice, portraying her as a political actor.

The Scoop

Prosecutor on the Defensive

The same cabinet meeting that welcomed Ben-Gvir back to the government became a prehearing of sorts on Mrs. Baharav-Miara’s dismissal. The attorney general, who was also present, struggled to explain her rationale for declaring Ben-Gvir ineligible to hold office, despite the fact that he hasn’t been indicted.

Baharav-Miara came under withering cross-examination from Foreign Minister Gideon Saar — who, ironically, had been the one who originally appointed her, in a previous government. Unlike her, he had come prepared.

“I’ve been involved in the appointment of an attorney general twice — once representing the Knesset and once as justice minister,” Saar said. “I’ve never seen anything remotely like this. What the attorney general’s obsessive efforts to harm the government bring to my mind are the Kamikaze pilots of World War II, who crashed their planes into enemy targets. We have a new standard for opposing a government decision: lo bah lah tov b’einayim [she doesn’t feel like it].”

The room fell silent, the attorney general stunned by the attack. One Likud minister, who a day before had complained to me about the exorbitant political price Netanyahu had paid to bring back Saar, told me later with undisguised pleasure, “It was worth it to bring Saar back into the government and the Likud, just to watch him tear his own appointee to pieces.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1055)