Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Finding and killing Yahya Sinwar was Israeli PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s cover and justification for the genocide in Gaza, which has killed over 42,000 people; most of them innocent women, children and non-combatant men. Many in Gaza who were not killed by Israeli-US ordnance, “are delighted with his passing, because they blame him rightly for having volunteered the entire population for martyrdom,” according to Hussein Ibish, Senior Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute. Many Palestinians in Gaza recognize that Sinwar’s inflammatory rhetoric about destroying Israel and denying its existence, coupled with the October 7 massacres, gave Israel a pretext for the re-occupation and destruction of Gaza.
A cruel reality is that, “Palestinians, both in Gaza and the West Bank, are deprived of the right to elect their government and that the decisions impacting their lives are dictated by a Palestinian leadership disconnected from the realities of war in Gaza, and by an Israeli government intent on erasing Palestinian existence,” in the eyes of Palestinian journalist Mahmoud Mushtaha. Gazans were victimized by a “boomerang rebellion,” suffering for the excessive retaliation by Israel in response to October 7. Yezid Sayigh, author of Armed Struggle and the Search for a State, said in a recent interview, “with the seventh of October Hamas effectively destroyed the idea of negotiation.” Ironically, Bibi and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s jubilation at killing Sinwar is overshadowed by a growing expectation for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to fulfill its due diligence and issue arrest warrants for the two.i
While Bibi’s Likud is the governing party in Israel, it no more represents the whole of Israel than MAGA does all of the US public. Netanyahu told us that he was only killing 20 Palestinian civilians for every Israeli murdered on October 7 in order to track and kill Sinwar, and that once that was accomplished, there would be a serious military draw-down and hostage negotiations. But that, like many of Bibi’s pledges, has proven to be untrue. He has expanded the Israeli imperial campaign well into Lebanon; and, by the way, has also drawn the United States into expanded military activity on its behalf regarding Iran. Bibi has finally drawn the US into a wider regional conflict, after years of baiting.
Privately, President Joe Biden is said to be furious with Bibi’s double-dealing as a dishonest broker. The journalist Bob Woodward said in a recent interview with Stephen Colbert that Biden has privately expressed salty candor in discussing his frustrations with Bibi; and recognizes that his goal all along has been to prolong the war to avoid prison for his convictions for bribery, corruption and breach of public trust. But Biden can’t bring himself to make a formal break and stop the bad American habit of financing Israeli destruction, because of the traditional relationship between the two nations.
The November 5th Election is the wolf-tree overshadowing American foreign policy priorities. The timing calls to mind the courage of President Dwight Eisenhower (Ike) on the eve of the 1956 Election, when he summoned all the power of his office, spine and cajones to order Israel, the UK and France to quit their gotten-up Suez campaign. Why can’t Biden do that? (Biden is no General Eisenhower, above the political fray, but a political animal at heart.) The answer lies in the complexities of current US electoral dynamics, and the fear and loathing of another Donald Trump presidency. That’s the real threat overshadowing much of . . . human life these days. Ike didn’t have to deal with that; Adlai Stevenson was no Donald Trump. Eisenhower had already won re-election by the time he ordered Israel to halt the 1956 war, and few Jews voted Republican. Why is it too politically risky for Biden to go public with his candid feelings about Bibi, and call him out as a destructive partner? (Bad ally is a painful oxymoron.) By calling out Bibi’s dishonest dealing, Biden would risk alienating the older swing Jewish vote in key states, along with millions of Christian Evangelical Zionist voters, a third of whom vote Democratic—a foctor in states like North Carolina.
But what is the current extremist Israeli government’s goal? A: An expansionist campaign for an ever-expanding, Greater Israel. And to consolidate its new imperial holdings before the US Election. Israel is rushing to inflict maximum damage on Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon before the US election, and to carve out buffer zones in to create an irreversible reality. Bibi is also desperately hopeful for a second Trump presidency, so his multi-front war can continue free of pesky American guardrails. Trump’s narcissistic blindness and disinterest in complexities prevents him from restraining Bibi’s worst impulses, and he’s blind to the long-term consequences for either Israel, the U.S or the region.
“Endless Mideast War,” Digital, Midjourney / Clip2Comic, 2024
The Likud Party’s dedication to Bibi’s endless war has left Palestinians feeling they have only choices of either “victory or martyrdom,” in the words of Basem Naim, of the Hamas Politburo. Yet, Likud leaders are oblivious to the fact that each battle in the West Bank and Gaza breeds more people dedicated to Israel’s destruction.
A gross failure of leadership on both sides led to this situation. Bibi’s response has been to double down and prosecute an “apartheid war,” in the words of Israeli Prof. Oren Yiftachel. He characterized the campaign as “a direct attack on the possibility of Palestinian decolonization and sovereignty,” and explains that, “Israel’s supremacist order, which was once termed ‘creeping’ and more recently ‘deepening apartheid,’ has long historical roots. It has been concealed in recent decades by the so-called peace process, promises of a temporary occupation,’ and claims that Israel has ‘no partner’ to negotiate with.” The apartheid creep process in Israel has become increasingly conspicuous in recent years under Netanyahu’s leadership. He REFUSED to dignify Fatah-Palestinian Authority as a negotiation partner, thus empowering Hamas.
If Bibi wants to end the war in Gaza, he has to restore the Palestinian Authority as a valid negotiating partner. A hostage deal is not likely without that. But it appears his only interest is continuing as a “War Prime Minister” so as to avoid prison for his corruption. Tom Friedman of the NYT summarized saying, “A diplomatic initiative to end the war . . . will eventually require Israeli commitment to a pathway to Palestinian statehood. That will trigger virulent opposition from Netanyahu’s extremist messianic right-wing partners . . . They will foolhardily see the killing of Sinwar and the collapse of Hamas as an opportunity to think they can kill every last Hamas member in Gaza in order to carry out their agenda of putting Jewish settlements into Gaza and expanding them in the West Bank.” Unless Bibi is somehow removed from power, the apartheid war will continue toward that goal, with increasing American involvement. The Likud’s agenda is one of endless wars.
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