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Failure of Netanyahu's strategy has resurrected the political corpses of his rivals
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.by Aleksandr Kargin [REGNUM] Against the backdrop of the ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip, several mass rallies have already taken place inside the country against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It should be noted that the rallies were not for the suspension of the operation in Gaza, but specifically for the resignation of the current prime minister, who is blamed for the failure of the first day of the war. At the same time, of course, there is a certain connection between the current actions and the recent anti-government protests in Israel related to judicial reform. However, it is noteworthy that Netanyahu’s dissatisfaction is now being expressed not only by members of the opposition, but also by his own electorate. Actually, the basis of the complaint against Netanyahu and a number of other Israeli politicians is the initially erroneous concept of how Hamas is perceived. The fact is that in recent years the Israeli elite has become convinced that Hamas is in some sense beneficial to Israel. In general, the idea was as follows. It was believed that Hamas itself did not pose a threat to the existence of Israel, and also did not have enough resources to cause significant harm to the country. At the same time, the very existence of Hamas, on the one hand, prevented the emergence of new radical Palestinian groups (Hamas destroyed competitors not under its control), and on the other, balanced the formal authorities of the Palestinian Authority in the person of Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas and prevented them from becoming excessively stronger . It is important to note that when they say: “Israel itself raised Hamas,” this is not true. It’s just that at some point, Israeli politicians considered Hamas an “acceptable and convenient evil” that could be controlled. Actually, they tried to control it with carrots and sticks: allowing cash transfers from Qatar and at the same time “decisive” military responses when Hamas periodically began shelling Israeli territory. At the same time, the leadership of Israel and the IDF completely ignored the report of General Yitzhak Brik , who, even before the events of October 7, actually predicted what would happen. Here is an excerpt from Brick's statements in the weeks leading up to the Hamas attack: “ We think that everything is fine and there is no danger, but the public is not told that next to us there is a powerful force of well-equipped, trained warriors, whose task is to cross the border and occupy several Israeli settlements. Moreover, the probability of this is very high: they will enter our villages, throw grenades at them and carry out a massacre. You will have to defend your settlement yourself, because there will be no army there .” The essence of Brick's report was that due to weak organization, corruption, fraud and chaos, the Israeli army may not be prepared for a sudden enemy invasion. At the same time, special emphasis in the analysis was placed on the fallacy of reducing the number of ground forces and relying primarily on the Air Force. Brik particularly criticized the concept of a “small but high-tech army” that had become popular in Israeli society . In the end, Brick turned out to be right, and the Israeli leadership admitted the failure of the strategy of flirting with Hamas and appeasing it. Does this mean that Netanyahu, as well as the IDF leadership, will face imminent resignation? Most likely, at least until the end of the war, no. Because “they don’t change horses in midstream.” However, once the fighting ends, Netanyahu will most likely be forced to leave, and then the main question will be who will replace him. No answer yet. The fact is that the main opposition politicians - Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid - generally pursued a policy towards Hamas similar to that described above, for which Netanyahu is, in fact, harshly criticized today. In this regard, it is noteworthy that the ratings of two politicians in Israel have increased significantly. The first is ex-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett . The growth of his popularity is influenced both by the fact that he is now one of the most prominent Israeli speakers representing the country in the English-language media, and by the fact that Bennett volunteered for the army immediately after the outbreak of hostilities. The second leader in ratings growth is Avigdor Lieberman , a man who can be called the main Russian-speaking politician in Israel. Lieberman is perhaps the only Israeli politician who has consistently advocated an irreconcilable fight against Hamas (as opposed to supporters of Realpolitik) and has always publicly voiced this. And now, against the background of the painful failure of the previous strategy, his shares have risen sharply. Such is the paradox of fate: just yesterday both were practically “political corpses,” but today they are rising higher and higher in the polls, having a chance to stand at the helm of the state. Posted by: badanov 2023-11-09 |
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