Posted on 01/31/2024 5:00:02 AM PST by FarCenter
How is Israeli public opinion on the war shifting?
For the first three months or so of the war, Israelis, specifically Jewish Israelis, strongly supported the war and the government’s declared goal of defeating and dismantling Hamas. That consensus and unity are rapidly fraying.
Netanyahu says continuing the war is the best way to release the hostages, but more and more Israelis, including the families of the hostages, are arguing that with every passing day that the war continues, the lives of the hostages are in greater danger.
There’s also growing doubts about whether Israel can actually decisively defeat and destroy Hamas. More than three months into the war, Hamas is still standing and firing rockets into Israel. While Israel has assassinated mid-level Hamas commanders, Hamas leaders are still alive and able to call the shots.
You have said that Netanyahu does not want to end the war. Why would that be?
Netanyahu is widely unpopular in Israel. Many Israelis, including some of Netanyahu’s supporters on the right, hold him accountable for the cascade of failures that resulted in Hamas’ massive incursion and horrific attack on October 7, 2023.
To restore his domestic support, Netanyahu’s only hope is to continue the war and try to achieve the “total victory” over Hamas that he has been promising. If he fails to deliver on this, and on the release of the hostages, his Likud party is likely to lose the next election and he’ll be out of office.
How does this political pressure influence Netanyahu’s response to the war?
In order for Netanyahu to hold his coalition government together and avoid an election, he has to appease the far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties in his government.
For the ultra-Orthodox parties, that means ensuring that their constituents receive the generous government subsidies and welfare benefits that they depend on, not requiring them to serve in the Israel military – unlike other Israeli Jews – and maintaining the religious status quo in Israel.
For the far-right parties, it means supporting Israeli settlers in the West Bank and expanding settlements there, and also preventing anything that will strengthen the Palestinian Authority, which the far-right wants to get rid of.
To keep his far-right allies in the government, Netanyahu has to block any post-war plan that gives the Palestinian Authority control over Gaza. Merely discussing the question of post-war Gaza is treacherous for Netanyahu because the far-right is calling for Israel to reestablish Jewish settlements there.
The Biden administration opposes any long-term Israeli presence in Gaza and wants a “revamped and revitalized” Palestinian Authority to eventually return to oversee the territory.
Netanyahu’s way to evade these conflicting pressures is to avoid any discussion of the post-war governance of Gaza as much as possible. Netanyahu has only said that Israel must have security control over Gaza, but what that actually entails is totally unclear.
Most Israeli Jews are focused on the fate of the hostages and on Israeli military casualties – these are the stories that dominate Israeli media coverage.
The families of the hostages have made sure that their plight is not forgotten. And since some of the hostages who were released back in November are recounting their harrowing experiences in captivity, this is also keeping public attention focused on the hostages still in Gaza.
The deaths of Israeli soldiers in Gaza also receive a lot of attention – on January 23, the Israeli military had its deadliest day since the war began when 24 soldiers were killed. Most Israeli Jews have served in the military, and most have family members or friends currently serving. So they are very connected to the military, and military deaths resonate very powerfully in Israeli society.
What most Israelis are not focusing on is the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Many are not even aware of what is happening to Palestinians in Gaza, because it receives little coverage in the Israeli media.
“War is the health of the State.”
Randolph Bourne
Gosh. I wonder why that is?
As long as the people in Gaza hate the Israelis more than they love their own
flesh and blood, this will continue. They could turn on the people who started
this. They refuse to. Well, enjoy…
Or maybe because they just ran out of Palestinian blood for matzahs.
Or something like that
Is that you, Ilhan?
i recall during our bombing of imperial Japan how many Americans were focussed on the suffering of the Japanese civilians in Tokyo.
See tagline.
Asia Times = CCP.
DW & France24 & BBC = EU Globalist Caliphate.
Ixnay to all the above.
“Why Netanyahu needs the Gaza war”
Utterly STUPID!
Like George W Bush needed 9/11.
The Gaza War is to 10/7 as the Iraq War was to 9/11.
The neocons needed 9/11 to kick off their attempt to reshape the Middle East.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.