Questions That Must Be Asked

Why—amid critical nego­tiations to implement President Biden’s plan for a ceasefire in Gaza, the re­lease of Israelis held captive by Hamas and many Pal­estinians held by Israel, and movement toward a negotiated permanent end to the conflict—would Israeli leader Ben­jamin Netanyahu decide to assassinate the chief Hamas negotiator? And why—while the US says it is working to de-esca­late tensions with Lebanon’s He­zbollah—would Israel choose escalation by assassinating Hez­bollah’s second-in-command?

We know the answers to both questions: Benjamin Netanya­hu isn’t interested in peace. He doesn’t want a negotiated deal to release hostages and end the war on Gaza, nor to de-escalate the conflict there or in the north with Hezbollah. And he most cer­tainly doesn’t want a “two-state solution” granting the Palestin­ian people independence in their own sovereign state.

Netanyahu does want two things that are perversely con­nected. Above all, he desperate­ly wants to remain in office, be­cause should he lose his post as prime minister, the prosecution of corruption charges against him will continue in full force. As the charges are so serious and the ev­idence so clear, he will likely be convicted and humiliated. This isn’t speculation—it’s widely dis­cussed in Israel, and when Presi­dent Biden was asked recently, “Is Netanyahu prolonging the war for political reasons?” he responded, “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”

The second reason is that Ne­tanyahu wants the war to contin­ue and even be accelerated. His remarks before Congress and a recent address to the Israeli pub­lic made this clear. He seeks “total victory,” defined as more than the military defeat of Israel’s enemies. Without acknowledging any Is­raeli culpability, he charged Pales­tinians with creating a hate-filled culture requiring massive de-rad­icalisation in the post-war peri­od—with the outcome of Palestin­ians accepting Jewish hegemony in Eretz Israel and understanding their place as a conquered, subor­dinate people.

This messianic Zionist vision, which has long driven Netanyahu, he now sees as possible, but only if Israel’s enemies—Iran and its sur­rogates—are brought to heel, and if Israel can involve the US in their regional conquest.

Netanyahu’s worldview raises several additional questions that must be considered. Knowing that Netanyahu never accepted the Biden plan’s terms, why has the President continued to call it “Israel’s plan” and placed the burden on Hamas to accept it? Knowing that Netanyahu is un­willing to make any peace agree­ment for fear of losing his oth­er extremist coalition partners (who’ve threatened to abandon his government for accepting any terms leading to peace), why do we continue to dance around that fact? Why hasn’t the admin­istration condemned the assassi­nations in Beirut and Iran, know­ing they’ll surely sabotage the negotiators’ efforts? Why, know­ing Netanyahu has no intention of completing a deal to release those held captive, do we contin­ue to allow him to exploit their families’ pain, pretending that negotiations are close to comple­tion when they aren’t? And why, knowing Netanyahu’s extrem­ist coalition partners’ demands and actions are wreaking hav­oc in the West Bank and Jerusa­lem—terrorising Palestinians, annexing land, building settle­ments, and erasing the possibil­ity of Palestinian self-determina­tion—has our response been so passive and tolerant?

Let’s be clear: Hamas and He­zbollah are not good actors. The former was born of the brutal and sustained Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, nurtured by Isra­el to create division in the Pales­tinian ranks, and fuelled by Israel’s ruthless decades-long strangula­tion of Gaza’s population. The lat­ter was born of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and its corrupt sectarian system that denied the Shia com­munity adequate representation. It was fuelled by Israel’s decades-long occupation of Lebanon’s south and the massive devasta­tion of the country’s infrastruc­ture in 2006. Both have certainly engaged in condemnable actions. But to criticise only them, while absolving Israel of its far greater crimes, is hypocritical at best.

If the US were serious about ending conflict in the region, in­stead of turning a blind eye to Is­rael’s behaviours deliberately de­signed to provoke more war, we need to get serious about holding Israel accountable. This leads to one final question: Why, when we continue to massively supply Isra­el with weapons and block all ef­forts to sanction their deplorable behaviours, do we expect that anything will change?

Dr. James J. Zogby
The writer is the President of Arab American Institute.