By Hamzah Rifaat
In a desperate bid to stay in power and avoid his own political reckoning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set himself on a path of no return - and made the prospect of peace in the Middle East bleaker than ever.
To many, the official is little more than a pariah, due to pending arrest warrants against him from the International Criminal Court and a global backlash over his killing spree in Gaza, where he has actively overseen crimes against humanity.
Netanyahu has also shown a proclivity for recklessness in his domestic policy making and brazen acceptance of responsibility for committing war crimes. This makes him a loner, a demagogue and a one-man show in both Israeli politics and international affairs.
So what has Netanyahu's government done when it comes to domestic and regional issues?
Genocidal intent
Even in war time, leaders are tasked with the responsibility of behaving rationally and morally. Evidence suggests Netanyahu has never had this obligation.
Because he has been adamant about continuing the massacres in Gaza and in neighbouring Lebanon, the entire Middle East has been fractured over the past several months.
Poverty levels have increased, large scale displacement of Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians has materialised, and ceasefire prospects have dimmed despite the 2024 Arab-Islamic Summit unequivocally condemning Israel’s aggression.
The security quagmire in the Middle East and the wider region has also worsened because Netanyahu's disregard for human life - and Western countries' refusal to stop him - has emboldened terrorism groups who now feel like they can target civilians in other countries with impunity.
Netanyahu's genocidal intent is similar to Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany. Israel's relentless bombardment of Gaza under the PM's watch, the recent attacks on Syria and Lebanon which results in the killing of innocent civilians and his aversion to any ceasefire deal in Gaza is enough evidence of his drive for Palestinian and Arab elimination.
Netanyahu's recklessness is also evident in his apparent, extreme apathy for the loss of human life, which is strange for someone who claims to safeguard "Western civilisation against barbarism."
Take his reaction to the September pager attacks in Lebanon as an example. Despite consensus amongst human rights experts and the United Nations that the explosion of thousands of hand-held electronic devices in Lebanon were "terrifying violations of international law," Netanyahu's office brazenly confirmed that he personally approved of the attacks.
In fact, as per Israeli media reports, Netanyahu went ahead with the attacks despite facing opposition from senior defence officials. Such nonchalance and apathy over civilian deaths in Lebanon and muzzling of criticism suggest sadistic and inhumane tendencies.
The PM's disregard for collective opinion within Israel and his adamancy that killing innocent citizens is a moral imperative, also make Netanyahu a fascist who does not believe in consensus building or entertaining different schools of thought on policy making.
Such views and policy not only make him an outlier in international relations, but demonstrate his disregard for his own people's well-being.
Israel's domestic quagmire
Under Netanyahu, the Israeli economy faces increased uncertainty. Economists such as the former governor of Israel's Central Bank, Karnit Flug, attribute this to the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and warn that long-term domestic damage is imminent.
Ideally, sovereign leaders committed to public welfare and localised prosperity would pass budgets with provisions for citizens and measures such as the widening of social security nets and increased funding for educational development to prevent youth discontentment.
The Netanyahu administration however, has ventured in the opposite direction.
This month, Israel's cabinet passed a 2025 state budget, significantly increasing defence spending at the expense of social services, healthcare and education for the average Israeli citizen. Netanyahu's budget also promoted cuts for non-security sectors of the economy, tax increases, a freeze in welfare benefits and a decline in public sector wages for Israeli citizens.
The new budget would also require average Israelis to pay higher taxes amid freezes on governmental payments to the elderly, the disabled and Holocaust survivors.
Amid diminishing support at home and abroad, Netanyahu has little left to fall back on but his words. And those have been rife with factual inaccuracies for his entire political career.
The multipronged security quagmires have only worsened for the Israeli public as Hezbollah seeks to retaliate with its own strikes in the north.
Now, Netanyahu has put the average Israeli citizen's personal safety in jeopardy. Adding to that is the failure to secure the release of the remaining hostages, which has only led to growing anger and insecurity among Israelis.
Disinformation campaign
Amid diminishing support at home and abroad, Netanyahu has little left to fall back on but his words. And those have been rife with factual inaccuracies for his entire political career.
Take his address to the US Congress in July. He extolled Israel for enabling more than 40,000 aid trucks into Gaza during the war, and denied any policy of starvation was occurring.
This was far from the truth, however. According to the United Nations, Israel has been implementing a full blockade, including bans on food, water, and medicine. While the provision of aid was eased somewhat due to international pressure, Netanyahu's claims are a distortion of reality and part of his propaganda warfare.
This includes statements questioning the ICC prosecutor's claims that Israel is deliberately killing Gazans and denying the casualty toll reported internationally in Rafah. Such dissemination of disinformation is aimed at swaying international and domestic public opinion in Netanyahu's favour while he continues to commit crimes against humanity.
Ultimately, Netanyahu's own people are not buying his disinformation campaign. As international and domestic criticism mounts, the PM has opted to safeguard his own job by muzzling the Israeli opposition.
Most recently, he dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. This happened on the very day the US elections took place, suggesting that Netanyahu was moving to force the new administration to deal solely with him (the US had excellent ties with Gallant).
Gallant's sacking also coincided with emerging reports that Netanyahu had advance notice of the Oct. 7 raids and had sought to cover this up. This prompted some analysts to speculate that Netanyahu fired Gallant to deflect public attention from his latest scandal.
If that is the case, this is just another example of Netanyahu being a master of deception as he struggles to hold onto power.
The sad truth though is that as long as Netanyahu remains in office, Middle East security will remain compromised, Israelis will continue feeling a domestic economic crunch and everyone's security will be in jeopardy. This has broad implications for international peace, given the ripple effect of regional instability on the global economy.
In more bad news, whoever replaces him would likely not improve the plight of Palestinians, particularly as Donald Trump returns to power in Washington. The occupation is thus slated to become more deeply entrenched, along with continued normalisation of Palestinian suffering and further threats to strategic stability in the Middle East.
In this regard, Netanyahu has set the table and he is largely responsible for this mess.
The author, Hamzah Rifaat obtained degrees in Peace and Conflict Studies in Islamabad, Pakistan and in World Affairs and Professional Diplomacy from the Bandaranaike Diplomatic Training Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Hamzah was also a South Asian Voices Visiting Fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC in 2016.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT Afrika.
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