Israel's resumption of war in the Palestinian enclave has nothing to do with the hostages. It is all about clinging to power
Ahmad Tibi
Men, women and children are paying with their lives for a war that is not about bringing back the Israeli hostages, but rather about the political survival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel on Tuesday resumed massive bombings of the Gaza Strip, a territory where two million Palestinians have been fasting for Ramadan under inhumane conditions of siege, including severe shortages of water and food.
The Israeli public is divided. Some support the onslaught, blindly believing it will bring the hostages home and exact revenge on Hamas. Others, primarily the families of the hostages, warn that Israel’s attacks on Gaza endanger their loved ones.
But despite the claims of Netanyahu and his government, this war has never been about rescuing the hostages.
Israel unilaterally violated the Gaza ceasefire after refusing to proceed to the second phase, which would have secured the release of all remaining hostages. Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected offers from Hamas for their release.
If his government had genuinely prioritised bringing the hostages home, a deal could have been reached long ago. But that would mean ending the war, without which Netanyahu’s coalition would collapse. The fighting has thus become a political tool, carried out under the pretext of security.
Political crisis
Netanyahu’s resumption of bombing in Gaza indicates that he is willing to go to any lengths to preserve his rule.
It is no coincidence that Tuesday’s bombardment comes just before a key budget vote, with ultra-Orthodox lawmakers threatening to topple the government if a law excluding their community from conscription is not passed, and former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir issuing ultimatums.
The resumption of the Gaza war also comes ahead of a massive planned demonstration in Jerusalem that threatens to expose the depth of Israel’s political crisis, and amid growing public calls for a state commission of inquiry into the failures that led to the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.
Netanyahu operates like Procrustes, the cruel figure from Greek mythology who forced his guests to fit into a bed that was never the right size - if they were too tall, he chopped off their legs; if they were too short, he stretched them until they broke. Anyone who came to him was forcibly “adjusted” to the predetermined measurements.
He is willing to burn everything - innocent lives, Israeli societal cohesion, Middle Eastern stability - just to survive one more day in power
This is precisely how Netanyahu acts. Rather than seeking realistic solutions, he forces reality to bend to his political needs.
Instead of ending the war with a negotiated deal, he is keeping Israel and the hostages trapped in an artificial framework of brutality and destruction. Instead of confronting his failures, he seeks to eliminate any political, military or public criticism.
For the sake of political survival, everything is permitted, from bombing Gaza’s civilian population, to destroying refugee camps in the occupied West Bank and displacing tens of thousands of people.
To cling to power, Netanyahu is willing to fire the Shin Bet chief for investigating the prime minister’s office; to dismantle the judicial system in an attempt to evade a criminal trial that could send him to prison; and to abandon the hostages, despite their families’ desperate pleas.
Cycle of revenge
A large portion of Israeli society is not asking questions. Some blindly believe the endless stream of lies - that more bombings, and the killing of hundreds more civilians, will somehow make a hostage deal materialise. This cruel and futile cycle of revenge is leading Israel into moral and military decline.
This does not just reflect indifference to Palestinian lives. It is also indifference to the lives of the Israeli hostages. Most of the Israeli public does not demand explanations, nor ask why the government has forfeited opportunities to bring the hostages home.
The national media is also complicit. Instead of exposing these manipulations, journalists and commentators collaborate with Netanyahu, enabling him to engineer the public consciousness.
Netanyahu will go down in history as the primary culprit behind the nation’s greatest failure - the man who abandoned his citizens time and again, sabotaged every diplomatic initiative, and perpetuated an occupation that is the root of all evil.
His negligence has evolved into the repeated commission of war crimes, and yet still he continues. He is willing to burn everything - innocent lives, Israeli societal cohesion, Middle Eastern stability - just to survive one more day in power.
Like Procrustes, Netanyahu is the one setting the rules and imposing them ruthlessly - and in the end, everyone pays the price. Netanyahu is a danger to Israel, a danger to the children of Gaza, and a danger to the world.
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