Several
times I’ve noted this key oddity of the Israel-Hamas war: it is certainly the
gravest crisis in Israel in a half century and yet it is being led by an
Israeli leader who is now overwhelmingly discredited within his own country.
And there is no sign that that public rejection is fading as the war enters its
second month. Polls continue to tell the same story. Indeed, last week the
right wing daily that was literally founded to support Benjamin Netanyahu,
Israel HaYom, called on Netanyahu to resign at the close of the war. The
difference is that the costs and dangers of Netanyahu’s continued rule are
growing graver and appearing in a starker relief.
One
confusion for some in the United States is the belief that the intensity and
ferocity of Israel’s response to the events of October 7th is tied to Netanyahu
himself. That is not the case. While public opinion is complicated and there
are disagreements over strategy, the current war has overwhelming support
within Israel. It’s quite unlikely that any head of government who seems at all
plausible would be prosecuting it in a different way.
To
the extent there are disagreements it’s over what comes afterwards. What
happens in Gaza? Who controls Gaza? Is it again governed by some kind of
Israeli military occupation? Is it governed by the Palestinian Authority? Is it
governed by some kind of international force?
From
a distance, it’s not clear to me what kind of support there is in Israel for
these various scenarios. Indeed, it doesn’t seem like the range of
possibilities has been digested or become coherent enough among Israelis in any
way that can be described concretely. The universal credo in Israel is that
success in the current war comes first — which is usually defined as destroying
Hamas as a military entity and ending its rule in Gaza. But that punting also
avoids coming up with solutions or making decisions most seem unwilling or
unready to make anyway.
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