Benjamin Netanyahu’s unyielding, right-wing leadership poses a greater threat to resolving the Gaza conflict than Hamas itself, as his refusal to negotiate a prisoner exchange deal and insistence on maintaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor stall ceasefire efforts and jeopardise the lives of Israeli hostages and civilians on both sides of the border.
Netanyahu’s ideological stance has fueled anger and desperation among Israelis, culminating in the largest domestic protests since the war began last October. The involvement of Israel’s largest labour union, Histadrut, in a nationwide general strike, marks a significant escalation, potentially paralyzing the government.
But for this momentum to translate into tangible political change, the protests must continue and expand, particularly by attracting support from Netanyahu’s own Likud base and other right-wing factions. The deepening polarisation within Israeli society, which Netanyahu and his far-right partners have carefully groomed, could eventually be their undoing.
In the short term, diplomatic pressure from the international community, particularly the US, is crucial to spur a policy shift and end the conflict. But even as Washington pushes for a ceasefire, Netanyahu’s insistence on maintaining troops in the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border is scuttling chances of an agreement. The US must follow the UK’s lead and attach conditionalities to ongoing military assistance to force an endgame.
Ultimately, Netanyahu’s exit from political office, to which he clings to avoid criminal prosecutions, is an essential prerequisite for ending the war. The resignation of Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, bolstered by military support and growing public unrest, could catalyze a larger break within the coalition and lead to the government’s collapse.
The emergence of a national unity government, as proposed by Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, could reshape the future of Israeli politics and offer Netanyahu a way out while providing a path to peace. For this to happen, the protests must continue to escalate, and internal fractures within the coalition must deepen. We can but hope.
It has now become inescapable that Netanyahu’s unyielding intransigence, driven by his ideological beliefs and personal political survival strategy, is prolonging the Gaza conflict and endangering the lives of Israeli hostages and civilians on both sides of the border. This position does not at all excuse or diminish the utter depravity of Hamas in the October 7 attack, hostage-taking and putting innocents in harm’s way while fighting the Israelis. But Israel has already succeeded in cutting off the head of Hamas’s chief warmonger. What now?
We are now solemnly and soberly persuaded that his eventual exit from office is an essential step towards ending the war. It is time that people of goodwill everywhere press this point in the name of the people of Israel, Gaza, and the wider Middle East if they are to have even the merest glimmer of a future free from the horrific cycle of violence and retribution. Netanyahu should take a leaf out of Joe Biden’s book and recognise that the more he considers himself the indispensable Great Man of Israeli politics the smaller the human being he becomes, at the expense of the lives of the innocents.
