Netanyahu and His Generals Assassinated Any Chance of a Hostage Deal
Two decidedly deranged decisions have brought Israel to the very brink of the end of the world as we know it. The assassination of senior officials in the Iranian embassy in Damascus and the killing of Ismail Haniyeh's children and grandchildren were proactive acts of aggression, designed to thwart any chance of a hostage deal and a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. The goal was to drag Israel into an all-out war of destruction in order to extend the rule of Benjamin Netanyahu.
The disaster of October 7 is a lot worse than the disaster of October 6, and the Netanyahu War is a lot worse than the Yom Kippur War. In 1973 Israel suffered simultaneous surprise attacks by two regular armies, armed and trained by the Soviets. These burst through the lines in Sinai and the Golan Heights, were quickly blocked and roundly defeated within two and a half weeks.
In 2023, Hamas terrorists invaded the western Negev on trucks and motorcycles, occupied communities and military outposts, murdered 1,200 civilians and soldiers, raped, looted, burned and took 240 hostages to the Gaza Strip.
Half a year later, the aims of the war have not been achieved and Israel's situation has only worsened. Hamas has not been destroyed, most of the hostages have not been returned, some of them have died in captivity, the north has been evacuated and is being shelled and Israel is more hated and isolated than ever.
The pace of the boycotts and the sanctions in the international arena is bringing the country closer to the status that in the past had been reserved for South Africa and North Korea.
After the Yom Kippur War the question was posed: How did that happen to us? President Ephraim Katzir astounded everyone when he declared "We are all to blame." That was not true then and it is not true now.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are to blame for the disaster, and below them, the security establishment is to blame. Its top brass compounded the crime when during the time that has elapsed since the massacre they did not pound on the table.
The leaders in the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet security service and the Mossad failed to stop with their own bodies a long war without a diplomatic strategy and realistic aims, the sacrifice of the hostages, the abandoning of the north and the decimation and starvation of the Gaza Strip to an extent that will make Israel a leper.
Food aid in Rafah.Credit: Fatima Shbair / AP
Partner to the responsibility and the debacle are Benny Gantz and his people, who told themselves and their public that they are saving Israel, when in fact they have saved Netanyahu.
How did this happen to us? One important reason is that Israel is no longer a democracy. It dresses up as one only on Election Day. Netanyahu and his collaborators have established in recent years a system of government that is sophisticated and vague.
A kind of one-man rule that has some tyrannical and even royal features, based on weakening and circumventing the cabinet, the Knesset, the judiciary and the free press. A close look at the prime minister's engagement calendars for 2023, which were revealed last week, makes this very clear.
Thus, for example, there were entries for 26 private meetings with Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, as compared to only three with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (one of them devoted to firing him).
Dermer is a personal appointment, a shadow figure who was not even elected in the party primaries. Netanyahu also met frequently with the head of the National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, as well as with his media advisors. He has built a narrow kitchen cabinet for himself, which renders the security cabinet and the full cabinet superfluous.
And Netanyahu wasn't working especially hard, contrary to the legends. Between the beginning of August and October 7, he devoted only 21 full days to working in Israel. Another 21 days were weekends, during which he worked partially at most. He spent 10 days in Cyprus and the United States, with quite an airy timetable. And no less than 17 days vacationing in Israel, including a week at the luxury hotel at Neve Ativ, which ended with the Hamas invasion.
Before the massacre and after it, he set out for work late, mostly after having his hair and facial makeup done. In only one area has he evinced diligence: interviews to the foreign media. Netanyahu gave 33 such interviews, as compared to four to local media outlets (Channel 14, Jerusalem Post, Radio Darom).
Fifty years ago today, Golda Meir resigned as prime minister in light of the Agranat Commission report on the Yom Kippur War and the public rage.
All that, even though there had already been a general election in December of 1973, in which she had won a solid majority and a renewed mandate. Netanyahu is not dreaming of resignation, nor of calling an election. He does not have an official replacement and the state of his health, both physical and mental, is concealed from the public. If the way to escape from his grip is not found soon, our end will be like that of nations that were abducted by psychopaths: Ruin.