Netanyahu chooses war – and its political survival – as Israelis demands a hostage -mated

Cnn
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stopped almost 19 months, the hostages and defeated Hamas, he insisted, and was equally on the pyramid of the war goals of Israel.

Even as members of his right-wing coalition, threatened to overthrow his government if he agreed to an armistice and a hostage public contract. Even when he himself gave up the obstacles for the eleventh hour against such a deal. And even as the evidence that the military operations of Israel had led to the murder of Israeli hostages both directly and indirectly. In the midst of all these contradictions, Netanyahu insisted that both goals were just as important.

But not more. Now Netanyahu prioritize the war and the survival of his government before the fate of 59 hostages in Gaza and the will of most Israelis.

A week after Netanyahu described the defeat of the enemies of Israel as the “highest goal” of the war, she transforms this rhetoric into action: tens of thousands of reservists in order to beat, confuse and occupy large parts of Gaza – which the prime minister calls the “final movements” against Hamas.

Israeli civil servants say that the plan is not implemented immediately, so that Hamas is one and a half weeks and a half to agree with another limited hostage and an armistice, to agree to the conditions of Israel-with some of them that this is the government’s preference. The deadline is the conclusion of the visit of US President Donald Trump in the region next week. However, it is unlikely that such a deal will be a material during this period, and these are no longer inactive threats.

The right -wing ministers, who have sabotaged former ceasefire transactions and celebrate the conquest of Gaza for a long time, are now celebrating the newly approved plans as the first step towards their vision of filling the enclave and ultimately annexing. Finance Minister Bezhalel Smotrich now swears that “there will be no retreat from the territories we have conquered, not even in exchange for the hostages”.

For Netanyahu, this means political security – the repeated threats of Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to leave the government and force new elections off the table and keep it in the office of the Prime Minister.

It also means to go against the will of a clear majority of Israelis – 56% according to Israel Kan 11 and 69% according to Channel 12 -, which supports a deal to end the war in exchange for the publication of all remaining hostages.

Hamas repeatedly said that it was open to such an all-in-one deal in the hope of saving her position of power in the Gaza, but the Israeli government rejected any end of the war that armed the group and rules the strip.

For the families of Israeli hostages, Netanyah’s decision was a stomach that they fear that they not only delay the return of their loved ones, but also actively endanger them.

“It seems that the government put Hamas about the rescue and return of the hostages, as this would be necessary to stop the war,” Anat Angrest, the mother of the captured Israeli soldier, Matan Ausgrest, to Haaretz. “The ministers send soldiers in the way and set the hostage of further risk if everything that was needed was a break for the development of a real strategic plan. What is now happening is a war that is heated by revenge and conquest, not by the real wish to save life.”

“It does not reflect the will of the people or the Jewish heart,” she said.

The extended Israeli attack in Gaza not only brings the risk of the hostages of Israeli bombs. Hamas has repeatedly said that it would carry out hostages if the Israeli forces enclose their positions, a threat that she carried out last August when six of you were murdered. The plan of Israel to push almost the entire population of Gaza into its southern part and at the same time starve to starve the rest of the strip of humanitarian aid could also endanger the admission of hostages to the already limited foods that they receive.

In the days before the Israeli security cabinet, the expanded war effort green Green Cabinett, Netanyah’s wife and close consultant Sara tried to downplay the number of living hostages. When Netanyahu said last week that “up to 24” hostages in Gaza were still alive, his wife made “less”. Her comments were reflected in what Israeli civil servants announced to CNN that they are “severe concerns” over three of these hostages – the same language that was previously used to obtain hostages that were finally confirmed dead.

For the people in Gaza, Netanyahu’s decision threatens the catastrophe that goes beyond the bad humanitarian crisis that the besieged area has already recorded. The extended Israeli attack guarantees a further mass -forced shift of the Palestinians, more death and destruction and the continued use of hunger as a weapon of war.

Even if Netanyahu’s decision to prioritize the destruction of Hamas from the fate of the remaining hostages is clear, the ability of the Israeli military to achieve its goals towards the group remains uncertain.

The factors that enabled Hamas to survive after almost 19 months of war and stay in power in Gaza remains skeptical of the Israeli national security analyst that tens of thousands of additional troops will fundamentally change the dynamics of the conflict. If you send them with the aim of filling large Gaza parts, the military victims of Israeli level could progress with the risk of having to fight the military in a morass for years.

Maybe that’s why Netanyahu has not grabbed the way he has now selected.

Trump’s return to power made it possible Netanyahu to take him off by President Joe Biden in the first 15 months of war. But even as Trump and his government, made it clear that they would not try to restrict Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Netanyahu did not immediately pursue the extended war, according to which his right -wing allies asked.

But at a rotating moment he has now chosen – a decision that shake the Gaza Strip and change the fate of more than 2 million Palestinians and 59 hostages forever.