Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been locked in public altercations this week with military brass, his right-wing coalition partners and his most powerful supporter, the White House, setting off a cascade of clashes with allies who stand by his side in the fight against Hamas and rekindling difficult questions about the future of the war and the Israeli leader’s own political survival.
“We are fighting on several fronts,” Netanyahu said in a statement this week to his bickering coalition partners. He called on them to “exercise restraint,” but could have been referring to himself.
Nine months into the war, Netanyahu finds himself increasingly isolated. His promises of “total victory” against Hamas are at odds with his desire to de-escalate the fighting in Gaza and with the military leadership’s indications that only a cease-fire would allow the remaining Israeli hostages to return home. He has both appeased and trounced right-wing allies, whose support he needs to stay in power, but whose hardline stance on the war and Palestinian rights has drawn international condemnation.
Analysts say the combative strategy reflects Netanyahu’s need to balance competing interests: presenting his country’s defense to domestic audiences amid growing global condemnation of the war, while staying close enough to right-wing allies so they don’t abandon him.
Still, Biden is fighting a high-stakes battle with his administration, which has provided key weapons while giving political cover to Israel’s devastating military campaign. On Monday, Biden overcame congressional opposition to seal one of the largest arms sales in U.S. history to Israel, a deal for $18 billion in F-15 fighter jets.
But the next day, Netanyahu posted a video blasting the U.S. for withholding some heavy weaponry, an apparent reference to the Biden administration’s decision to withhold a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs over concerns they would be used in populated areas of Gaza.
The video prompted a sharp response from White House spokesman John F. Kirby on Thursday, who said, “No nation has done or will do more to help Israel defend itself than the United States.” Kirby added that the Israeli leader’s comments were “deeply disappointing to us and certainly upsetting.”
Shortly thereafter, Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a statement saying he was “ready to accept personal attacks if it is necessary to obtain the weapons and ammunition Israel needs to fight the war for its survival.”
While the Biden administration has grown frustrated with the direction of the war, there are few signs that Mr. Biden would significantly scale back U.S. support for Israel in an election year. Mr. Netanyahu maintains strong support from Republicans in Washington, who are leading an effort to invite the Israeli leader to a joint session of Congress next month in an apparent attempt to turn opposition to the war among some progressive Democrats into an election issue.
More pressing at home for Netanyahu is the feud with the military leadership, which also intensified this week.
Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari appeared to publicly air months of simmering frustration and criticize Netanyahu’s oft-repeated calls for an “absolute victory”, saying “the idea that it is possible to destroy and eliminate Hamas is a blinding light for our people.”
The army has signaled it wants to end the fighting in Gaza, easing some wartime restrictions on Israeli communities near the border on Wednesday and saying it had nearly defeated Hamas forces in the city of Rafah, believed to be the militants’ last stronghold.
But Prime Minister Netanyahu has shown no intention of ending the war, refusing to endorse a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal to halt fighting, release the hostages and begin talks on a permanent ceasefire. After meeting with the hostages’ families at the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem on Thursday, Netanyahu indicated he wanted Israel to keep fighting.
“When we are in Gaza, the pressure shifts. Our operations create opportunities for the return of the hostages,” he said in a statement from his office. “We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all hostages are returned, and we will not leave until we have eliminated Hamas’ military and governing power.”
That position is supported by right-wing cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, but they oppose changes to Israeli law that would allow ultra-Orthodox Jews to serve in the military. The army says the changes are needed to mitigate military losses from war, another point of contention between the army leadership and Netanyahu.
But Israeli leaders are also at odds with Ben Gvir. Netanyahu dissolved his informal war cabinet this week after far-right ministers demanded a greater role in wartime decision-making, in what analysts say was an attempt to remove Ben Gvir. Members of Netanyahu’s party later said Ben Gvir had been a “very strong leader” and that he was “very vindictive.” Leaking state secrets.
Israeli Haaretz The paper, a frequent critic of Netanyahu, wrote that he was “attacking” “everyone who gets in his way.”
“In security, politics and Israeli foreign policy, Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to pursue a brinkmanship that has become even more extreme in times of war,” he said in a column published on Friday.
