Since the outbreak of what can be called the Hamas War on October 7, the United States has held the position that the only way for Israel to achieve real peace and security is to reactivate and implement a true “Two State Solution,” with real governing authority for the Palestinian Authority inside internationally-recognized borders in the West Bank and Gaza, and provided with the support and aid necessary to make the kind of changes in the lives of the Palestinian people that will end the ability of Hamas - which is now known to have been originally created with Israeli support in order to “divide and conquer” the Palestinians and leave Israel with “no one to negotiate with - to hold the position it does.
Benjamin Netanyahu came to notice 40 years ago for his opposition to all of the above, and he rode that position to power as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. After the outbreak of the latest conflict, it became known that he had worked with Hamas to maintain their position in Gaza, even going to the point of enlisting Qatar in funneling outside aid to Hamas in return for “quiet” in Gaza. Needless to say, this information, along with the obvious problem of Netanyahu’s current government having missed what Hamas was up to due to their concentration on overturning the democratic nature of the Israeli state in order for Netanyahu to be protected from prosecution for the corruption charges he faces, led to the prime minister’s public support dropping into the mid 20s. Political opponents were loathe to go after him while the conflict was continuing, but it was certain that the coming of peace would mean the end of Natanyahu’s career.
Thus, when Netanyahu announced publicly yesterday that his government rejected the Two State Solution and that the goal was complete Israeli control “from the river to the sea,” this set off alarm bells in Washington and led to a break in the facade of unanimity in the war cabinet formed for national unity with Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the two leaders of the opposition party National Union, former IDF Chiefs of Staff Benny Ganz and Gadi Eisenkot. In the wake of Netanyahu’s announcement of the policy position, Gantz - who had publicly stated since the early days of the war that Israel needs to prioritize a deal to release the remaining hostages, even at the expense of settling for less than a total defeat of Hamas - became increasingly vocal about this in recent days, arguing that the idea the hostages will be released by more fighting or an Entebbe-style raid is pure fantasy. Eisenkot - who lost his son in the fighting in December and now his nephew this past week - has now joined Gantz in that position.
Eisenkot did a set-piece TV interview on January 18 in which he argued that it is time to make a deal to release the remaining hostages. He also placed blame for the October 7th massacres squarely on Netanyahu’s shoulders; additionally, he revealed that he and Gantz thwarted a preemptive strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which would have given Hamas military chief Yahya Sinwar the regional war he hoped would result from the October 7 attack. He also said Israel needs to have new elections in the next few months to restore legitimacy.
That position was immediately supported after the interview by former Prime Minister and Chief of Staff Ehud Barak, who called for for Gantz and Eisenkot to demand that Netanyahu hold an early election no later than June, or that they set in motion a chain of events leading to a domestic political crisis if he doesn’t agree to do so.
It also became news this week that President Biden had not spoken with Netanyahu since before Christmas. Then today, the two spoke. Within an hour of the call, unnamed senior Biden Administration officials stated that Netanyahu made clear in the call that he is not necessarily opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, despite having categorically come out against it yesterday. After those comments from the White House became known, Netanyahu’s office put out a statement insisting that he had said no such thing.
This Netanyahu statement is very significant. Opposition to a Palestinian state has been the most defining part of Netanyahu’s political career since he first became politically engaged publicly. It continues his game of saying “fuck you!” to the United States to prove he is “independent” and strong enough to “stand up to the United States” as prime minister. However, given his equally-long public record of waying whatever he thought would serve his interests in the moment, it is also likely he did say some version of what was reported in Washington in the call with Biden.
What is important to see here is that any administration official who made such a statement did so with the knowledge and agreement of President Biden. A defining point of the Biden Administration is that there are no public cracks in support for the official position of the administration on whatever the issue might be. Saying publicly that Netanyahu privately held a position at odds with his most recent public statement on the issue is something the White House had to know would immediately cause Netanyahu trouble with the right wing extremist members of his coalition who are his base of support for continuing in office. They had to know that he would have to respond to the news and deny it.
The best explanation for why this was done is that it is a signal from the White House that President Biden is done with Netanyahu, or is at a minimum moving toward a more adversarial stance toward Netanyahu’s government.
This is big. No Israeli leader can survive politically in a straight-out facedown with an American president, because without American support, that Israeli politician is done for in the eyes of the Israeli public, who are well aware that U.S. support since the Six Day War is what has allowed Israeli governments to do as they have over the past 50 years.
This could be the first step in the Biden Administration supporting the positions on elections taken by Benny Ganz, Gadi Eisenkot, and Ehud Barak in the past 24 hours. If so, this is good news. Forty years of Benjamin Netanyahu’s bullshit is long enough.
The man has actively harmed the long term interests of his country in favor of advancing his own personal interests over those of the people he has claimed to lead and represent since the day he first took office. The past year has seen him actively working to harm if not destroy the essential democratic underpinnings of Israeli government and society to promote his own interests.
It’s long past time for the Donald Trump of Israel to be gone.
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Good. Thanks for this news TC.
I sincerely hope the Israelis are able to set an example, crush their snake and hold him to account before more needless death and misery befalls women and children.
As long as Nettheyahoo and his rightwing scumbags are in power the US shouldn’t give Israel jack shit. They are back stabbing takers.