Reject Netanyahu's Vision of Conquest and Death. Choose Life (
Netanyahu's new obsession – a permanent Israeli presence on the Philadelphi route on the Gaza-Egypt border, at the cost of abandoning the surviving hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, is a particularly cruel spin, even for such a disconnected and cynical individual.
After all, Israel's military control of the Philadelphi route, as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explicitly clarified today, and as IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi also clarified directly to government ministers, is not a security necessity at all. This is a political, not security, necessity.
Netanyahu seeks to present his political base with a shocking populist equation, according to which the only options now on the table are either a deal to release the hostages and end the war – or the personal security of all the rest of Israel's citizens. He is declaring that a deal to save the hostages would compromise national security, so as prime minister he must take the high road: To sacrifice them for the imaginary greater good.
But this is a completely false equation. And not only because Israel's security chiefs have exposed this as a bogus claim over and over again, and not only because, of course, there is more than one correct answer to Israel's current complex situation, but also because the man who has built, inflated and promoted the "Mr. Security" brand his entire political life, with exemplary consistency, has actually achieved the complete opposite.
The six hostages, whose bodies were recovered from Hamas captivity in Gaza.
Netanyahu did nothing before and after October 7 to promote Israelis' personal security. His supporters should ask themselves, quietly and honestly: Do you really feel more secure?
During all the years of his rule, Netanyahu's crime was to preserve the status quo and sweep every problem under a smoldering, then fiery, carpet. He deliberately weakened the Palestinian Authority, even when it showed a willingness to be a full partner of the IDF in security coordination. He cultivated and strengthened Hamas in order to 'divide and conquer.' He believed that Gaza could be maintained as a huge prison if only a few dollars were poured into it from time to time. He deepened the occupation of the West Bank without any political horizon. He lobbied to end the Iran nuclear deal without any alternative.
All the while, he repeatedly promised that his heartwarming vision for the State of Israel was to "manage the conflict" and "to live by the sword forever." That last promise was definitely fulfilled. Netanyahu is not Mr. Security at all, but Mr. Stagnation and Chaos.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, July.Credit: AP / Ohad Zwigenberg
In reality, a deal to release the hostages and to end the Gaza war is one key component of the only way to ensure sustainable security for Israel in the longer term. Fighting forever is not a solution. After ten months of fighting, it is already clear that there is no such thing as "total victory" and the "elimination" of the enemy, two of the prime minister's favorite phrases; it is impossible to control another nation by force forever and that we will never convince the international community of the legitimacy of such a policy either.
The "Philadelphi route" slogan is just another populist fiction, like "total victory." In the world of adults, it doesn't matter how justified each war was at its initiation – and Israel was definitely justified to respond militarily to the Hamas assault and massacres of October 7 – at the end of every conflict there will always be some form of cease-fire agreement. Just as every previous round of fighting in Gaza ended with cease-fire agreements whose details the Netanyahu governments hid from the public.
People protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday.Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg,AP
Instead of admitting this, and working on broader and longer-term agreements, in dialogue with pragmatic parties in the region, Netanyahu chose to apply a loose Band-Aid each time and thus strengthen the lethal militants.
It is true that there will always be extremists who won't be satisfied by a cease-fire agreement, whether short or long term. Those who want a Palestine "from the river to sea," and those who want an Israel "from the river to sea." But it is possible to reach understandings with the majority of reasonable Israelis and Palestinians, and to protect all of us from extremist minorities when they are smaller and more isolated locally and internationally.
A protester holding a sign criticizing the Netanyahu government, in Tel Aviv at the weekend.Credit: Tomer Appelbaum
A deal to save the hostages and to end the war is critical first step for Israel's security. The abandonment of the hostages, in favor of an eternal Jewish settlement in Gaza, harms Israel's security in the longer term. Israel cannot make two million Palestinians disappear. The real equation is either an endless cycle of bloodshed, or a diplomatic solution for a better future on both sides.
To insist on a hostage/cease-fire deal is an insistence on an Israel that seeks life, an Israel that is morally and militarily committed to its citizens and to a safer future, instead of an Israel that seeks to live by the sword forever and that glorifies conquest and death.