Opinion: Israelis have had enough of Netanyahu

Opinion by Frida Ghitis

(CNN) — A recent visitor to Israel told me about a conversation in which he noted that Benjamin Netanyahu is the worst prime minister in modern Israel’s history. His Israeli interlocutor disagreed.

No, he responded, “Bibi,” as he is known, is the worst leader in the history of the Jewish people.

Almost eight months have passed since Hamas breached Israel’s border with Gaza on October 7, brutally massacring more than 1,000 people, kidnapping hundreds, sexually assaulting countless women, and triggering a horrific war in Gaza — all during the leadership of Netanyahu.

He was in charge on the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. And he is now the prime minister on whose watch Israel is enduring a massive international backlash over its campaign to uproot Hamas that has resulted in unimaginable suffering in Gaza, a wave of global isolation, slanderous accusations against Israel in international courts and a dangerous split in support in the United States.

How is he still in power?

In 2016, Netanyahu told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, “My first responsibility is to ensure the safety and security of the one and only Jewish state.” Thinking he was succeeding, he proclaimed with false modesty, “I would like to be remembered as the protector of Israel. That’s enough for me.”

He failed at his first responsibility.

And even though there were many others who failed that day, it was his policy of allowing Hamas to strengthen in Gaza as a counterweight to the Palestinian Authority that let the strip become a terrorist stronghold, essentially an Iranian satellite just yards from Israeli population centers.

The suffering in Gaza is, above all, Hamas’ fault, which has cynically surrounded itself with civilians, no doubt aware that such casualties create pressure on Israel to stop its offensive. But Israel’s rushed campaign also failed to secure the flood of foods and basic supplies it should have ensured, and Netanyahu responded weakly when extremists interfered with efforts to improve humanitarian conditions, or used the opportunity to wreak havoc in the West Bank.

But even if October 7 never happened, Netanyahu had already inflicted serious damage to his country. The disaster underscored how lacerating his self-serving policies had become.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister had been largely successful politically, but his personal style and alleged corruption turned many Israelis against him. It seems that staying in power became his top priority; higher, I believe, than the interests of the country.

Last year, Netanyahu ignited unprecedented acrimony among Israelis. Week after week, month after month, Israelis, sometimes by the hundreds of thousands, protested plans to “reform” the judiciary so the governing coalition could control all branches of the government.

It was the result of another repugnant decision by Netanyahu, joining forces with extreme right-wingers. It was the only way to cobble enough support for him to become prime minister, so Netanyahu invited the former political pariahs, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir into his government. To satisfy their demands, he agreed to plans that would have undercut Israeli democracy.

That plan suffered a sharp setback when the high court struck down one of its key components.

Netanyahu had also politicized Israel’s crucial relationship with the United States, eroding the bipartisanship that has been one of the last remaining areas of agreement in polarized Washington by ostentatiously aligning himself with former President Donald Trump. Trump and Netanyahu helped each other, and in the process weakened America’s unified support for Israel.

President Joe Biden is a strong backer of the Jewish state, but younger Americans, and some Americans with intensely negative views of Trump, now color their views of Israel through that lens.

If Trump becomes president again, it will worsen that problem for Israel. In the short term, Trump’s unquestioning support for Israel may be reassuring, but in the long run, it accelerates the trend, making support for Israel a partisan issue.

Trump became angry at Netanyahu after he congratulated Biden for his 2020 victory, but there’s little doubt that he would stand by Netanyahu if he wins in November

Meanwhile, Hamas is still holding about 100 living hostages — including American citizens. Some 60,000 Israelis are still displaced from their homes in the north, where Iran-allied Hezbollah is still launching rockets; the Gaza war continues and Israel’s international isolation grows.

But every time Israel is held to a standard that no other country at war ever has, it strengthens Netanyahu within his own country. Accusations of genocide in a defensive war against a terrorist group committed to Israel’s destruction only fortify him.

For Netanyahu to lose power, he would have to resign voluntarily, or at least 5 of the 64 members of his coalition in the Knesset — Israel’s parliament — would need to join the opposition in a vote of no confidence.

On July 28, the Knesset goes on a three-month recess. If Netanyahu is still in power then, he will likely remain prime minister well into next year, because even if a vote of no confidence occurs in November, it will take 90 days before new elections, and many weeks longer to form a government.

The polls have consistently shown that most Israelis want Netanyahu gone, with most surveys suggesting that elections would put the opposition, under the leadership of Benny Gantz, a centrist currently in the war cabinet, as prime minister.

On Thursday, Gantz’s National Unity Party proposed a bill to dissolve the Knesset and hold new elections this fall. But Netanyahu – who leads a coalition with a comfortable majority – may survive this challenge, as he has so many others over the years.

The proposed bill comes days after Gantz issued an ultimatum. Netanyahu, he declared, has not made crucial decisions to guarantee victory.

“A small minority,” he said, has taken over the Israeli ship, “and is sailing it toward a wall of rocks.”

By June 8, Gantz said he will bolt the cabinet and work to topple Netanyahu unless Netanyahu formulates a plan to achieve six goals — including bringing back the hostages, creating an international civilian government framework for Gaza and advancing normalized relations with Saudi Arabia.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has just issued a similar challenge. He said Hamas has largely stopped functioning as a military organization, but “the end of the military campaign must come together with political action.”

Netanyahu has been reluctant to spell out any post-war plans for Gaza because his far-right allies want to build settlements there and previously threatened to withdraw their support if he stops the war. Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed. But Gantz says Israel will be fighting the remnants of Hamas for years.

Last week, families of hostages released a harrowing video of seven young Israeli women, soldiers bloodied and battered, as they are being captured by Hamas. With their friends’ bodies lying before them, they bravely try to find a way to survive their ordeal.

Months later, five of them are still hostages of Hamas.

Are there five courageous members of Likud willing to take the necessary action to move Israel beyond Netanyahu?

Politicians are scrambling to find a path forward. If they succeed, Israel can soon start its next chapter. Find a new Arab-led civilian administration in Gaza; look to a formula for existence with Palestinians, develop relations with Saudi Arabia, and repair its relations with the rest of the world.

That is unlikely to happen, however, as long as Netanyahu remains in power.

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