Bibi’s inevitable fate
By Ebrahim Beheshti
Staff writer
War is not sacred, life is sacred: This is not the slogan of the critics and opponents of war in Arab and European countries or American students, but the slogan of Israeli residents who protested on Saturday night against the prolonged war and the current extremist cabinet’s failure to free Israeli prisoners.
Seven months of war and genocide in the name of securing Israel have led to a moment where the opposition to war is also being voiced from within Israel.
To reach a cease-fire has turned into a global demand for months. The greatest crime against humanity in the 21st century, which has so far led to the death of over 34,000 people, has left no room for any defense of the Israeli regime in the public opinion.
Now, the artificial taboos of the Zionists such as ‘victimhood’, ‘invincibility’, and ‘sustainable security’ have been shattered. Hamas is still standing, Israeli prisoners are still not free, the economy has suffered heavy losses, and if it weren’t for the support of European and American allies, the situation in Israel could have been even more dire.
This is the record of a man who was supposed to bring political stability to this regime after years of political instability and internal fractious coalitions.
Now, with the material and moral damages inflicted on the Israeli regime, Netanyahu is left with nothing but ‘failure’ and ‘infamy'.
However, this is not the whole story. In recent days, whispers about the possibility of issuing a verdict to arrest the Israeli prime minister along with the minister of War and the Chief of Staff of the army on charges of war crimes have been heard from the International Criminal Court. Issuing such a verdict will disgrace Netanyahu internationally. Netanyahu is widely criticized both domestically and internationally. It is not surprising that, in addition to calling for an end to the war, critics and opponents at home and abroad are also demanding the resignation or dismissal of Netanyahu.
Recently, the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz wrote: Six months have passed since the war in Gaza, and since October 7, the situation in Israel worsens every day. We must end the war and bring back the captives, and Benjamin Netanyahu must go.
Political analyst Shimon Shafir from the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has also declared: It is high time for us, the people, to remove this wicked cabinet led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who must be held responsible for his involvement in the October 7 disaster.
Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli cabinet, has called for early elections, stating: We must reach an agreement on holding elections in September, before the one-year anniversary of the war (Gaza). Hillary Clinton and William Hague, former foreign ministers of the United States and the United Kingdom, are among the figures who have deemed Netanyahu’s departure necessary.
It seems that the leader of the Israeli cabinet has realized his inevitable fate. In the realm of power and politics, there is no place for him. When the war ends, he will not be seen as a hero but rather as a loser. It is unlikely that anyone will even gather in support of him on the streets of Tel Aviv. In addition to infamy, what awaits him may be expulsion from the political arena and perhaps even spending the rest of his life behind bars. The shadow of ongoing corruption cases still looms over him. Moreover, he and other high-ranking Israeli officials must prepare themselves to answer to investigative committees regarding the events of October 7, similar to what happened to Ehud Olmert, a former Prime Minister of Israel.
Following Israel’s failure in the 33-day war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, an independent government inquiry commission known as the “Winograd Commission” identified Olmert as the main culprit of the war’s failure. The result of this inquiry, along with the disgrace of the defeat, forced Olmert out of the political and power arena.
Netanyahu’s resistance to cease-fire proposals should be seen more as concern for this inevitable fate. He knows that the end of the war will mark the end of his political life. However, it seems there is no escape from facing such a fate. Now, he has also become a liability for Israel’s strategic ally, the United States.