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Netanyahu is committing a strategic blunder that will alienate the world
Netanyahu is committing a strategic blunder that will alienate the world

Telegraph

time6 hours ago

  • Politics
  • Telegraph

Netanyahu is committing a strategic blunder that will alienate the world

By seeking to occupy the whole of Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu takes the war to its logical conclusion. Hamas was responsible for October 7, Israel will never be secure till Hamas is gone, and given that Hamas controls Gaza, why not uproot it from every last inch of territory? But the Israelis enter without an exit plan, with the mad dream of constructing a friendly civil administration, repeating the exact same mistakes we made in Iraq. Netanyahu thinks he can destroy a revolutionary Palestinian spirit that the war has likely intensified. For a man obsessed with the ancient world, he has a scant grasp of history. He has also divided his military. He has alienated those hostage families who are frightened their relatives might die. And he will finally, perhaps irrevocably, isolate Israel from world opinion. Even in America, the only serious power behind him, patience and conscience are under remarkable pressure. Gaza has become the moral test of our times, and European governments suspect they've failed it. Their initial caution was understandable. They didn't want to condemn Netanyahu lest it give courage to domestic anti-Semites and their snowflake enablers – let alone to Hamas, the principal beneficiary were we to recognise a Palestinian state. Journalists, myself included, were reluctant to parrot death statistics that might be inflated by a criminal regime. But it's now impossible to ignore the evidence of human suffering or the sham of the official Israeli narrative t hat says no one is starving or, if they are, it's because Hamas stole all the food. The latter claim was recently debunked by Israeli military officials – not natural allies of Palestine Action – and Netanyahu finds himself challenged by a rainbow coalition of the United Nations, Germany, China, a former Israeli prime minister, several retired heads of security, the Pope and Piers Morgan (sublime and the ridiculous united at last). Bibi is reported to have argued with General Eyal Zamir, the chief-of-staff of the armed forces. It seems Right-wing Israelis are more willing to take a stand against Netanyahu than nervous foreign diplomats are. If Zamir is anti-Semitic, the Pope's not a Catholic. In the United States, the New York Times, hitherto soft on the Gaza operation, has become a forum for dissenting voices, and Zohran Mamdani, the pro-Gaza candidate for New York mayor, leads among Jewish voters. Liberals are rethinking their historical alliances; there is disquiet on the religious Right, too. Evangelicals will always love Israel: it's Jesus's hometown. There's growing concern, however, that Israel might not be so hot on Christians. In July, settlers carried out an arson attack on the last Christian-majority town in the West Bank. That same month, Gaza's only Catholic church was hit by Israeli tank fire, killing three (Netanyahu apologised for what looks like a genuine accident). 'Desecrating a church, mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity and God,' wrote the US ambassador, Mike Huckabee, a Christian Zionist. Senator Lindsey Graham, also of that parish, said, 'What's happening in the West Bank bothers the hell out of me.' A cynic might detect more bother at the damage to Christian property than there ever was at the flattening of Muslim hospitals, a double-standard as old as sin. Why did Britain throw open its doors to almost anyone with a Ukrainian passport yet appears reluctant even to admit children from Gaza? Ethnic preference. On the other side of the fence, Israel can argue that it is a multi-faith society doing its best to protect the Druze in Syria, while Palestine has so few churches for a sinister reason. Christians enjoy far more rights under Israel than they would under Hamas. Nevertheless, reports of atrocities during the Iraq civil war woke US Christians up to the perilous state of their faith in the Middle East, reduced to a tiny population dependent upon benign neglect within a threadbare ethnic tapestry. Netanyahu threatens to disrupt that fragile order, while his governing coalition imagines a 'Greater Israel' that hints at cultural chauvinism. The regime is overplaying its hand, transforming the civil rights case for Zionism (Jews need a homeland) into an open-ended military endeavour that is infinitely more controversial and expensive. If Trump is reluctant to bankroll the borders of Ukraine, why would he do it for Israel? The compromise of America's interests and reputation has already begun with the US-backed food distribution programme – accused of gross inefficiency, even of soldiers firing at civilians. Trump's connection with Israel is heartfelt. It is personal, it is philosophical. Netanyahu's belief that nations have the right to defend themselves, is a Zionist Maga. One of the administration's first acts was to lift sanctions on settlers. Within months, settlers had beaten a US citizen to death in the West Bank; a second died following an arson attack. The President is no moralist but he has a healthy moral gag reflex, hence when asked if Palestinians are starving, he said, yeah, they probably are – influenced, it seems, by Keir Starmer. Netanyahu demanded a conversation; Trump reportedly disliked being lectured about fake news and shouted down the phone that the hunger is real. Hail to the chief. His observation to journalists that 'we basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing,' remains the single best expression of global frustration I've heard, worth chiseling onto Mount Sinai. And if Trump is some kind of liberal snowflake, maybe the Pope is a Lutheran. Trumpism hinges on the strategic realignment: get America out of places it doesn't need to be, let strong allies fill the vacuum. But Netanyahu is forcing upon him the most intractable, expensive problem of all, a humanitarian crisis, and he'll only make it worse if Gaza City is next. Will Trump really tolerate such an escalation? Will his constituency – starting to contend with its Christian conscience – forgive the bloody consequences? The Israelis have always advised Palestinians that if they don't want to be killed, they should just pack up and move. But as the war completes its hideous march to the Mediterranean Sea, one wonders where they are supposed to go. There's only so much room on Greta's yacht.

Mike Huckabee On The Future Of The Gaza Strip
Mike Huckabee On The Future Of The Gaza Strip

Fox News

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • Fox News

Mike Huckabee On The Future Of The Gaza Strip

On the heels of the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement that Israel will take back complete control of the Gaza Strip, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee discusses his announcement and the current situation in Gaza. He also explains the immense pressure European leaders have put on Israel recently. The Ambassador highlights the recent protests in Israel and the concerns from hostage families about their loved ones' safety. Later, he shares what he has seen since entering Israel, including their love of America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

Netanyahu announces plan to take over Gaza City, marking another escalation in devastating war
Netanyahu announces plan to take over Gaza City, marking another escalation in devastating war

The Guardian

time3 days ago

  • Politics
  • The Guardian

Netanyahu announces plan to take over Gaza City, marking another escalation in devastating war

Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has said, marking another escalation in the 22-month offensive that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed most of Gaza and pushed the territory into famine. Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, which began Thursday and ran through the night, Netanyahu had said Israel planned to retake control over the entire territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas. The announced plans stop short of that, perhaps reflecting the reservations of Israel's top general, who reportedly warned that it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israel's army after nearly two years of regional wars. Many families of hostages are also opposed, fearing further escalation will doom their loved ones. Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids there, only to return to different neighbourhoods again and again as militants regrouped. Today it is one of the few areas of Gaza that hasn't been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders. A major ground operation there could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the territory. It's unclear how many people reside in the city, which was Gaza's largest before the war. Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year. Families of hostages held in Gaza fear an escalation could doom their loved ones, and some protested outside the security cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. Former top Israeli security officials have also come out against the plan, warning of a quagmire with little added military benefit. An Israeli official had earlier said the security cabinet would discuss plans to conquer all or parts of Gaza not yet under Israeli control. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal decision, said that whatever is approved would be implemented gradually to increase pressure on Hamas. Palestinians, at least 90% of whom have already been displaced at least once by the war and of whom nearly one in ten have been injured in Israeli attacks, are braced for further misery. There is little left remaining of the healthcare system and aid agencies such as the UN have been largely shut out by Israel. Aya Mohammad, a 30-year-old Palestinian who, after repeated displacement, had returned with her family to Gaza City, said: 'Where should we go? We have been displaced and humiliated enough. 'You know what displacement is? Does the world know? It means your dignity is wiped out, you become a homeless beggar, searching for food, water and medicine.' At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals. Asked in an interview with Fox News ahead of the Security Cabinet meeting if Israel would 'take control of all of Gaza,' Netanyahu replied: 'We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza.' 'We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter,' Netanyahu said in the interview. 'We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.' Israel's military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, has warned against occupying Gaza, saying it would endanger the hostages and put further strain on the military after nearly two years of war, according to Israeli media reports. Israel's military offensive has killed at least 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, mostly civilians. The figure does not include the thousands believed to be buried under the rubble or the thousands killed by the indirect consequences of the war. Of the 42 people killed on Thursday, at least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds. Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American contractor, according to Nasser hospital, which received the bodies. GHF claimed there were no violent incidents at or near its sites on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza and have repeatedly targeted Palestinian journalists. With Associated Press

Israeli officials launch desperate campaign to stop Netanyahu's Gaza occupation
Israeli officials launch desperate campaign to stop Netanyahu's Gaza occupation

The Independent

time4 days ago

  • Politics
  • The Independent

Israeli officials launch desperate campaign to stop Netanyahu's Gaza occupation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing significant internal pushback, including from his own military chief, over plans to expand the offensive and occupy remaining parts of Gaza. Military and security officials are warning that a full occupation risks a protracted conflict, endangers remaining hostages, and would further strain the Israeli army. Mr Netanyahu is reportedly under pressure from far-right coalition members who advocate for the destruction of Gaza City and oppose any truce or aid delivery. Critics within Israel, including retired security officials and hostage families, accuse the prime minister of pandering to his far-right allies, fearing his strategy will lead to further devastation and loss of life. The proposed expansion could exacerbate Israel's international isolation, with allies adopting tougher stances amid reports of humanitarian crises and attacks on aid convoys in Gaza, they say.

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