Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu is a political perpetuator. He is the country’s longest-reigning prime minister, whose end of career has been predicted many times, but who has always returned to power.
In recent days, predictions have been made again. Hamas’ unprecedented large-scale terrorist attacks on Israel may eventually end Netanyahu’s political career.
– After the war, it’s time to wash the laundry, and it doesn’t bode well for Netanyahu, says a researcher at the Finnish Middle East Institute Foundation Antti Tarvainen In an interview with .
According to him, Netanyahu’s position is now twofold. Right now, the prime minister has the opportunity to show strong leadership in a situation where the people and politicians are welding together in the face of a common tragedy and threat.
Until now, the finger of blame has been pointed at Israel’s intelligence service and armed forces, which have been criticized for being poorly prepared and slow to react to the attack. Before long, the accusations will also find the country’s political leadership.
And there has already been criticism. A liberal belonging to one of the largest and oldest newspapers in Israel Haaretz declared in his editorial: “Netanyahu bears responsibility for this Israel-Gaza war”.
– The failures of the soldiers and intelligence do not absolve Netanyahu of the overall responsibility for the crisis. He is the top director of Israel’s foreign and security policy, the newspaper writes.
Israelis have not looked favorably on the prime ministers and governments that have been in power and have been deemed to have failed when the wars broke out. Prime ministers have fallen after the Yom Kippur war and both wars in Lebanon.
It would be unprecedented if Netanyahu’s chair did not turn upside down as a result of the war, says an Israeli political commentator Amit Segal.
– History teaches us that every single surprise and crisis has led to the fall of the government, Segal commented to the US news channel for CNN.
“Mr. Security”
Netanyahu and his government are criticized for two reasons.
The first is precisely Israel’s failure to anticipate and repel the Hamas attack.
The situation in which more than a thousand Israeli civilians have been brutally killed and more than a hundred taken hostage is a serious image loss for the prime minister, whose favorite nickname is “Mr. Security”.
Another reason is the policy of Netanyahu’s far-right government that started last year. From the point of view of international law, one of its central goals has been the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The expansion of settlements has led to violent clashes on the West Bank this year and last year. An extraordinary number of Palestinians have died in them.
Opponents see that Netanyahu’s government’s policies have strained the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians even more, and that Hamas was able to take advantage of the situation.
– All Israeli governments have promoted settlements, but this government’s characteristic messianic talk about settling and taking over the entire West Bank further worsens the threat to the entire existence of the Palestinians, researcher Tarvainen says.
Tarvainen is currently doing research in Ramallah, West Bank. According to him, the majority of West Bank residents accept the attack by Hamas and do not condemn its acts of violence. According to the researcher, people’s main fear is that Netanyahu’s government is trying to take over all of Gaza and drive the Palestinians out of there.
– The accumulated trauma of generations is strongly on the surface again. The worlds of Palestinians and Israelis are hugely different, says Tarvainen.
Criticism of the government has subsided for a while
Political division among Israeli Jews has decreased and criticism against the government has quieted down in recent days, says Tarvainen.
– Now I don’t think about whose fault this is and why we were surprised. The time for that is neither here nor now, said the Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid According to CNN.
In Israel, it has been decided to establish an emergency government and a war cabinet to operate temporarily during the crisis. It includes both Netanyahu’s current government and one opposition party, led by the former commander of the armed forces and minister of defense Benny Gantz.
However, the establishment of the emergency government has progressed slowly, and it has also included internal political friction. This is also Netanyahu has been criticized.
The largest, liberal opposition party led by Yair Lapid is currently not participating in the emergency government, because Netanyahu did not agree to its demands to oust two far-right ministers, says The Times of Israel.
Researcher Tarvainen believes that bringing the government and the opposition together is only temporary. After the crisis subsides, Netanyahu’s government has to answer difficult questions.
The government was subject to criticism even before the crisis
Before the attack by Hamas, Netanyahu’s government was already under very strong internal political pressure. The government weakened the country’s legal system, which led thousands of people to demonstrate against the country’s perceived authoritarian direction.
According to Tarvainen, these questions are now secondary in the middle of the crisis.
– It will be interesting to see if people will still return to the streets to oppose the government’s policies, or if the unity produced by this trauma is strong enough to protect the government, says Tarvainen.
When it comes to Netanyahu, an outcome other than the end of his career is always possible. At least he thinks so Haaretz interviewed by an unnamed minister from Netanyahu’s Likud side:
– After we win this war – and we will win it – the people of Israel will again see Netanyahu as the strong leader that he is.
Sources: Reuters, AP, AFP