According to the organisers, around 500,000 people attended rallies in Tel Aviv, with another 250,000 joining in towns and cities across the country (“Israeli protesters bring Tel Aviv to a halt, demand deal to free captives”, Al Jazeera, September 8, 2024).
The level of disgruntlement and anger towards Netanyahu is well unprecedented.
Over the years, more Israelis than before have turned right-wing (“Jewish Israeli voters have moved significantly rightward in recent years, data shows”, The Times of Israel, August 28, 2022), hardening their stance towards the two-state issue with the majority viewing Palestinians as an irreparable existential threat.
More recently, however, many now have also come to realise that Netanyahu himself poses a grave risk to the long-term interests of the country.
Rapid growth of the West Bank settler colonialist population significantly contributed to the rightward shift in Israeli society. Demographic trends reflect the wider increase in the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox population (“The demographics behind Israel’s right-wing shift”, Asia Times, January 16, 2023).
In turn, this has translated into the electoral patterns and, hence, the rise of ultra- or far-right parties who are now in power under Netanyahu.
By extension, the political rhetoric of genocide and extermination (e.g., just look at the reference to Palestinians as “Amalek” by none other than the Prime Minister himself, i.e., Netanyahu) has turned brazen, intensified (ramped up) and gone mainstream under the current government, no less.
When the October 7 raid by Hamas took place, Netanyahu seized that as a golden opportunity to divert attention from his on-going corruption trial to ensure his political survival.
Part of the tactic would be to delay court proceedings by perpetuating the terror and aggression against Gaza under the pretext/pretence of rescuing the hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
This would render him with that excuse of being preoccupied (so-called) in managing the so-called “war” against Hamas – as a real and present danger to the Zionist entity (“Netanyahu’s lawyer tells court PM can only testify in corruption trial in March 2025”, The Times of Israel, June 27, 2024).
The October 7 attack has not only exposed the Zionist entity’s security vulnerability a posteriori (i.e., by experience) or ex post facto (i.e., from the fact) to penetration and infiltration and, by projection (looking forward), incapability to wage war on multiple fronts but also Netanyahu’s personal character.
Securing the release of more hostages would have brought Israel closer to a permanent ceasefire alongside an end to the genocidal drive against Gaza.
As it is, the killing of the six hostages sometime in August was acknowledged to have been entirely avoidable had Netanyahu agreed to the terms and conditions of a ceasefire deal on the table (“Biden says Netanyahu not doing enough to secure deal after 6 hostages killed”, ABC News, September 3, 2024).
Israelis are now confronted with the “horror” that Netanyahu is willing to sacrifice lives on the altar of his personal and selfish interests and gains.
In EMIR Research article, “Greatest setback of the century but Netanyahu doesn’t care” back in 2020 (May 4), it was already then highlighted that, e.g., “Netanyahu’s plot to annex the West Bank … is purely selfish [and solely] to preserve his political legacy”.
Again, in another EMIR Research article, “Ethnic cleansing and apartheid – Israel & Netanyahu are on the wrong side of history” (May 17 2021), it was stated that “… more than ever, day by day, Israel is ‘showing’ to the world that [it is] on the wrong side of history. Benjamin Netanyahu [does not] care as his focus is only on saving his skin from the corruption charges”.
Even the defence and security establishment now openly and directly acknowledge that Netanyahu personally (i.e., in contradistinction to his policies such as the wanton annexation of the West Bank) constitutes a threat to the country (e.g., see, “Netanyahu is an 'existential threat' to Israel, former defence officials warn”, The New Arab, July 24, 2024).
On July 23, a letter signed by 31 elite figures (“who’s who”) in Israel and addressed to the US Congress denounced Netanyahu as:
• prioritising his political survivability; and
• unwilling to conceptualise a post-war plan (among others).
The letter also highlighted that, “[f]or decades, [Netanyahu] has been inciting Israelis against each other, damaging [the] national social fabric, dramatically harming … [defence] capabilities, eroding [the] economy and devastating [Israel’s] international standing”.
Nonetheless, the letter left unarticulated Netanyahu’s “messianic vision” in wanting to instigate a regional war (whether on a limited basis or full-blown is irrelevant). In this, Netanyahu risks turning Israel into a vulnerable flash point in a looming regional war of his own doing (as the “mastermind”).
As a skilful political manipulator and operator, credit must be given to Netanyahu in his previous role as Prime Minister for hitherto entrenching and hardening Israeli societal attitude (at the expense of deepening polarisation on the other hand, to be sure) towards the West Bank (in external terms, i.e., the so-called “strategic depth”) and Gaza (in internal terms, i.e., the presence of Hamas and other resistance groups) as a continuing threat to the very existence and survival of the “Jewish State”.
By extension, the two-state solution has been effectively rendered moot and no longer practicable and sustainable in the eyes of “most” Israelis.
Netanyahu has been able to harness public opinion by deliberately provoking Hamas in relation to Al-Aqsa as one salutary example.
The other contemporaneous example was his turning a blind eye to Hamas’s meticulous preparations for the October 7 incursion (“Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago”, New York Times, November 30, 2023).
Netanyahu is clearly delaying a permanent ceasefire and ending the genocide in Gaza in order to prolong his political longevity.
The only solution to this crisis now engulfing Israeli society and for the end of the genocide in Gaza is for Netanyahu to go.
The US must now pressure for his departure.
It is hoped that whoever becomes the 47th President of the US will apply extraordinary pressure on Netanyahu to leave office.
As unpalatable as it sounds, it is undoubtedly more realistic to force a coup against Netanyahu (first) than to pressure the Zionists to cease and desist from genocide (see EMIR Research article, “The US must compel Israel to cease and desist from genocide”, February 15, 2024) because, as Prime Minister, he is the centre of gravity and the buck stops with him.
In the course of self-preservation, Netanyahu is to be blamed for placing the lives of the hostages on the line.
He is also culpable for sanctioning (explicitly or implicitly) the Hannibal Directive to be implemented in the first place which calls for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to fire on its own soldiers to prevent kidnappings.
This has indirectly resulted in the loss of hostage lives at the same time (see EMIR Research article, “The Hannibal Directive – additional charge against Israel at the ICC”, July 16, 2024).
In the final analysis, any realistic prospects for ensuring a permanent ceasefire is the release of hostages.
As Netanyahu remains the stumbling-block to a ceasefire deal condition on the release of hostages, he has to be forced out, come what may.
Even hardliner and right-hand man Yoav Gallant has urged for a softening of the negotiating stance (see e.g., “Israeli defence minister calls for deal to bring Gaza hostages home, Reuters, September 1, 2024).
Only then can we seek to bring an end to the holocaust in Gaza.
Gaza has turned into a graveyard for Palestinian children.
According to Al Jazeera, at least 16,500 children have been killed as of August 2024 (“Israel kills more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, 16,456 of them children”, August 15, 2024).
And even where the children are not massacred from the murderous rampage of Zionist bloodlust, they will eventually succumb to death from severe malnutrition, untreated wounds and infection, and even polio (“‘Tragic childhood’: Gaza children vaccinated against polio, war continues”, Al Jazeera, September 3, 2024).
For the sake of the children of Gaza – who are being sacrificed on the altar of Zionist genocidal politics and ideology and not least Netanyahu’s political ambitions and survival – he must go.
For the sake of ending the Gaza holocaust, Netanyahu must be ousted if he refuses to step down.
Jason Loh Seong Wei is Head of Social, Law & Human Rights at EMIR Research, an independent think tank focussed on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.
** The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of Astro AWANI.
