Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have finally relented. After more than a year of refusing to agree to end the war in Gaza, he is now pushing for a ceasefire, which mediators insist will be exactly what will happen.
Netanyahu’s government met on Friday to approve a deal that would involve a prisoner-for-prisoner exchange, Israel’s gradual withdrawal from Gaza, and an end to the devastating war that Israel has waged in the Palestinian enclave.
Its implementation is scheduled to begin on Sunday, at which point condemnation is likely to begin as Israel’s prime minister faces opposition from within his government. This opponent is parroting the very line he has long advocated: that there will be no end to the war without the destruction of Hamas.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has proudly declared that he has used his powers over the past year to prevent any prisoner release deal from being concluded, calling the deal currently on the table “terrible.” ” and claimed that he was If it is carried out, his party will quit the government.
But that alone is not enough to bring down Netanyahu’s government. Ben Gvir needs the support of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also a far-right traveler, and his Religious Zionist party. Mr. Smotrich appears willing to go ahead with the deal, but only in the first phase, when some Israeli prisoners will be released. Religious Zionism then announced that its members would resign from the government unless the Gaza war, which has so far killed more than 46,700 Palestinians, continues.
trump factor
Despite these threats to his rule, Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to be forging ahead. The scheduled start of the cease-fire comes a day before a deadline set by President-elect Donald Trump, who falls on Inauguration Day on Monday.
Israel’s far-right believes that Trump, a pro-Israel Republican who is trying to bring into office several politicians with strong ties to the Israeli settler movement, is their subordinate and that the movement will not be able to realize its dreams. They viewed him as a president who turned a blind eye to the situation. They are building illegal settlements in Gaza and forcibly displacing residents.
At the moment, that doesn’t seem to be the case, with President Trump emphasizing that he wants to end the war before he takes office.
Although potentially negative for Prime Minister Netanyahu on first reading, the realization that the Trump administration may have forced Prime Minister Netanyahu’s hand may be politically beneficial to the Israeli prime minister in the short term. That could give them more room for maneuver in the future.
“This may be more transactional than many people realize,” said Mairav Zonszein, an Israel expert at the International Crisis Group, at the hands of Israel’s longest-serving leader. suggested that it may not be so easy.
“By agreeing now, Prime Minister Netanyahu may have greater freedom to act in the West Bank and decide on the agreed future of Gaza,” annexing scattered occupied Palestinian territories. He mentioned far-right Israeli plans to do so. Partnerships with Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
“We all knew that at some point we would have to exchange prisoners. That’s always been the case. For many, it’s not even a security issue. For many, it’s a security issue. The question is, who will rule Gaza?” she said, referring to the third phase of the ceasefire agreement, and went on to say that by agreeing to a ceasefire now, Prime Minister Netanyahu will be more confident of the goodwill of the United States at any time. suggested. Future efforts to address the Gaza issue.
political reality
Prime Minister Netanyahu has had close ties with far-right members of the government since returning to power in late 2022. When Israeli right-wingers abandoned Prime Minister Netanyahu during his ongoing corruption trial, Ben Gvir and Smotrich supported him. and its unpopularity among a large portion of the Israeli public.
Without them, he would not have been able to put together a coalition government, and it is believed that without them his government would collapse, thereby eliminating any possibility of immunity from prosecution.
But Netanyahu, long known as a great survivor, appears to have other plans for survival.
The majority of people in the government, including important ultra-Orthodox religious blocs, support the ceasefire. The opposition also said it was ready to provide Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a safety net in order to reach a deal.
The prime minister has always been well aware of the state of Israeli public sentiment, and analysts say the atmosphere is becoming more open to a deal aimed at returning prisoners and ending Israel. He said he may have noticed it. war.
This would help Israel re-establish deterrence and claim that its adversaries, including Hamas, the Lebanese organization Hezbollah, and most importantly Iran, have suffered a major blow.
But Israeli political scientist Ori Goldberg said the sense of victory over these geopolitical victories has been replaced by a sense of acceptance and resignation that the war needs to end.
“Nobody’s really celebrating,” Goldberg said. “Everyone knew this was bound to happen. Israelis have been living in a kind of absentmindedness for the last 15 months. Life has become difficult for many Israelis, and we have It’s not as severe as it has been for humans, but it’s still tough.”
“For 15 months we have been told we are on the brink of absolute victory, but we have achieved nothing but destruction and killing,” Goldberg added. “We are tired, don’t get us wrong – many would still destroy Gaza if it guaranteed security – but we have tried our best and it is still not worth it. It has not been done.”
“The Israelis are exhausted,” he continued. “With any luck, the first six weeks should generate momentum for a settlement.”
calculate costs
Therefore, Prime Minister Netanyahu can exploit public sentiment and pose as a man who has ended the war and achieved some strategic goals before new elections, and once again obtains a suspension of political execution. may be possible.
But for Israeli society, besides the prisoners being held in Gaza, the soldiers returning from Gaza and Lebanon in coffins, and Israel’s growing international isolation, the war on a scale that rights groups consider a genocide. There is a cost involved in carrying out this.
Indeed, for many observers, the Israel that has emerged from the Gaza massacre is a far removed state from the one that existed before the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that killed 1,139 people.
The ensuing war has seen the far-right wing of Israeli politics claim a right to the center, while the reach of the security apparatus has expanded beyond what many had previously thought possible.
In May, a paper compiled by two prominent Israeli scholars, Eugene Kandel and Ron Tzur, highlighted the consequences of Israel’s war on Gaza and the Netanyahu government’s attempts to free itself from judicial oversight. Given the division, “Israel will not be able to survive as a sovereign Jewish state for decades to come.”
“There is no doubt that there is moral decay within Israel,” said Dr. Guy Shareef, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, which documents the denial of medical aid and torture to Palestinians. Ta.
“The devaluation of human life, especially Palestinian life, which was not considered to be of much value before the war, is dramatic,” Shalev said.
“This scale of loss of life and the government’s disregard for the lives of (Israeli) hostages eroded the sense of mutual responsibility that binds all Jews, known in Hebrew as ‘arvut hadadit,'” Shalev said. he added. “Fundamentally, if Palestinian lives don’t matter, I think ultimately all lives matter less.”
