BiBi: Israel’s savior or destroyer?
By Ebrahim Beheshti
Staff writer
Benjamin Netanyahu, the one who was supposed to be the savior of Israel through its domestic political instabilities, has now been named by some Israeli officials and media outlets as the regime’s destroyer. The times have been so tough for this hawkish senior Israeli official that the Haaretz newspaper wrote, “We citizens will make sure he goes home as soon as possible.”
Ever since Netanyahu and the coalition that he leads secured the election about a year ago, they were hoping to end the streak of short-lived political coalitions and unstable cabinets. Things, however, did not go the way these optimists hoped. It wasn’t long until the hawkish policies of Netanyahu’s cabinet pushed its dissenters into a single great entity, which resulted in the most historic show of domestic opposition to a cabinet.
Hamas’s October 7 surprise attack on the occupied territories was, nevertheless, a heavy blow to BiBi’s reputation and standing. It proved to many inside the occupied territories that Netanyahu and his aggressive cabinet are Israel’s undoing, not its making.
Amos Gilead, former director of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Political-Military Affairs Bureau, stressed in a televised interview that the regime’s intelligence services failed in predicting Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, a failure that was more dangerous than the Yom Kippur war, also known as the War of October 6, 1973.
Regarding Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, Haaretz wrote that Netanyahu is not only the one responsible for this terrible defeat but also “an existential threat to Israel”. The Jewish newspaper added, “The man is done. He is unfit. He cannot lead us a single day further.”
The London-based Guardian newspaper reported that Israel’s military officers and former politicians consider Benjamin Netanyahu to be the one behind every failure that led to Hamas’s attack. That is why they have asked him to resign. Dan Halutz, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and the commander of Hatzor Airbase, affirmed Israel’s defeat by Hamas during the surprise attack on October 7.
“From my point of view, [Netanyahu] should resign now, as we speak. There are better people to handle it,” he told the Guardian, adding: “He thinks that he’s above God, he thinks he’s the savior of Israel, and unfortunately we failed to explain that it’s the other way around, that he is the destroyer of Israel.”
Former Israeli intelligence official Avi Melamed also maintained that it’s clear this cabinet is “dysfunctional in many aspects”. “This is a sentiment expressed by many Israelis who are saying clearly this government is a disaster,” he stated.
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, in an interview with the Observer newspaper, described the Hamas attack as “the most severe blow Israel has suffered since its establishment to date… I don’t believe that the people trust Netanyahu to lead when he is under the burden of such a devastating event that just happened under his term”.
Now, after days of Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, Netanyahu is facing the consequences of the attacks on the Palestinian territory.
The world’s public opinion, especially in the Islamic world, has become more and more against the Israeli regime and Netanyahu’s policies. The normalization talks with Saudi Arabia has been abandoned and, according Israeli reports, the economic situation of the country will collapse if the war continues for a long time.
The fighting continues to disrupt business and markets in Israel. A recent report by The New York Times said that about 360,000 Israeli reservists have left their jobs to join the war. This is a big blow to Israel. The technology industry in Israel has experienced a sudden decline. Also, the activity of Israel’s Tamar gas field has been stopped due to concerns about Hamas attacks.
The continuation of war and insecurity will lead to the intensification of migration from the occupied territories.
Head of the Israeli settlement of Margaliot, in the north of the occupied territories, Eitan Davidi, has said if Israel does not change the situation, not a single person will be ready to live in the settlements.
Professor Yuval Noah Harari, a famous Israeli author and historian wrote in an article that for many years Israel has been governed by a populist strongman, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is a public-relations genius but an incompetent prime minister. He has repeatedly preferred his personal interests over the national interests, and has built his career on dividing the nation against itself. He has appointed people to key positions based on loyalty rather than qualifications, taken credit for every success while never taking responsibility for failures, and seemed to give little importance to either telling or hearing the truth.
Criticisms against Netanyahu and his policies come at a time when this regime is in a state of war, and as the flames of war subside, more voices against him will be heard from the occupied territories because people have found that he is not a savior, but the destroyer of Israel.
Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, also said, “Netanyahu is history, he’s done”. Currently, he is officially serving as the prime minister, but there is very little time left until he leaves.