, 07.27.2024 12:54 PM

My latest: Netanyahu’s race against fate

 

If you had the impression this week that Benjamin Netanyahu was running for office, you’d be right. He is.

But the Prime Minister of Israel wasn’t running where he was this week, which was at a podium in Washington, D.C., speaking to members of the U.S. Congress. Bathing in the standing ovations he received – reportedly more than any foreign leader has ever received when addressing congresspeople – Netanyahu could be forgiven for wishing he was running for re-election in America, and not Israel.

Back in Israel, you see, he is really, really unpopular. Presently, he is facing three separate corruption prosecutions; he is met with protesters wherever he goes in Israel, including hundreds who have camped outside his residence, for months; and he is deeply unloved by as many as 70 per cent of Israelis, who want him out. They disapprove of his inability to get all the hostages home, they disapprove of how he is conducting the war against Hamas, they disapprove of him.

But, mostly, they disapprove of something that is little-known in places like America, but is very well-known in Israel. Namely, what Netanyahu and his government knew about Hamas’ savage attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 – and what, if anything, he did about it.

Because, on balance, it doesn’t look he did much. It doesn’t look like he did anything meaningful to prevent the worst progrom in the 76-year history of the Jewish state – a vicious, sadistic, Satanic attack that left 1,200 men, women and children dead, over 200 taken hostage, and an untold number of women and girls subjected to sexual violence that is beyond comprehension. For that, Benjamin Netanyahu is now facing a near-impossible task: re-election.

The damning facts are well-known in Israel – and, in some cases, are actually still to be found on the Internet. They can be seen in videos created by Hamas and their evil cabal, and which were uploaded to assorted platforms.

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14 Comments

  1. Douglas W says:

    Gaza:
    1,200 Israelis dead, October 7th.
    Since then, 35,000-plus Palestinians killed.
    Nine months later, the end to the Gaza situation, no where in sight.

    Moreover, IDF, stretched to the limits.
    Substantial IDF casualties in a military exercise that was supposed to be over in weeks.

    Now:
    Possible military engagements in southern Lebanon.
    Possible engagements in the West Bank.

    Israel is weary, and vulnerable.
    It is badly in need of fresh thinking.
    It’s not going to come from Netanyahu, and those around him.

    I wonder what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph thinks?

  2. Warren,

    Hezbollah has done it now with the rocket attack on the Golan Heights, which has killed ten Israeli teens and children. This terrorist attack guarantees that Israel will now go into Lebanon—a two-front war.

    The deaths are tragic enough, but to see Netanyahu get a second wind from this is simply incredible, not to mention revolting.

    • Douglas W says:

      Ronald,
      With this tragic situation, Netanyahu lives once again to see another day.
      Suspect Hamas + Hezbollah dread the thought of Netanyahu being turfed from power.
      The perfect adversary.

      Yesterday’s rocket attack finds Israel once again in an unfavourable situation.
      It must respond, but to what degree, and for how long?
      If Israel’s response is not measured, then that in turn will heighten Hezbollah’s response.
      And it may, over time, ramp up further involvement from Iran, and perhaps prompt other countries like Syria, Turkey and Pakistan to become involved.

      One can envision this matter, heading south, super fast.

      • Douglas,

        Most of the civilized world thankfully marvelled at Iran’s military incompetence when they fired drones and missiles at Israel. That attack qualified for a measured response. I’ll bet Netanyahu wanted more, but the war cabinet kept him in line.

        However, this attack doesn’t qualify for a measured response, given the significant loss of life. It’s curious to see Hezbollah denying publicly as having instigated the attack. It was one of their rockets, but was it an authorized or rogue attack? Time will tell.

        • Douglas W says:

          Ronald,
          There was no military incompetence on April 14th.
          Amman, Jordan acted as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran.
          A deal was struck to prevent crazy escalation.
          Tehran gave the heads up before rockets, missiles and drones were launched.
          More than half were intercepted by the US, not Israel.
          The Israeli counterstrike on April 19th was also negotiated: an insignificant radar station was struck, in Iran.
          Iran and Israel both claimed victory, and Washington prevented the lid from being blown off.

          As an aside, Washington voiced its deep displeasure over the Israeli bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus on April 1st.
          In diplomatic terms, that was a big no no.

  3. Peter Williams says:

    If Hamas surrenders the killing stops.

    Hamas doesn’t want the killing to stop.

    In fact Hamas wants all the Jews dead.

    • Douglas W says:

      And Israel wants all Palestinians out of Israel.
      Two tribes, who cannot co-exist.

      So how will it end?
      Or, will it ever end?

      • Jason says:

        It will never end. The minority revisionist and reductionist form of Zionism that now has a rock solid foothold in Israel’s Knesset will never allow the violence to stop, as seen in this week’s storming of Sde Teiman. And for whatever the causes of Palestinian grievances are or were, they’re a desperate and broken people now. Desperation on that scale never results in peace, only in perpetual insurgency. If Hamas all died off tomorrow, a group with the same aspirations called something else would turn out on Monday.

        Would love for someone to prove me wrong, but I don’t see it happening in what’s left of my time.

  4. Jason says:

    “Didn’t look like he did much?”

    He directed funding to Hamas to keep fighting the Palestinian Authority, with the goal of increasing global perception that Palestinians are savages unworthy of concern. Then, he got into bed with the type of ultra-right wingnuts that actively WANTED something like October 7th to happen, so that they could justify inflicting untold horrors on Gaza and hide behind what’s left of the blanket statement of “all criticism of Israel is antisemitic.”

    He’s ruined Israel’s international relationships, and I for one hold him personally responsible for the global wave of antisemitism that has taken hold.

    And why? Because, like every other despot throughout time immemorial, no human life, no justice, no rationality matters more than raw power to men like Netanyahu. Hamas as a monster is a well-known entity. The greater sin comes from trying to operate the demon strategically for personal gain. For that, the history books of the future cannot possibly fuck this man hard enough.

    • Peter Williams says:

      Jason
      How much money did Biden and Trudeau give Hamas?

      • Jason says:

        $0.

        If you want to claim that Hamas appropriates UNRWA funds, that’s a separate and more complex issue. But neither Biden nor Trudeau has actively and willfully propped up a Hamas-led government. Netanyahu has.

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