As of: March 24, 2024, 5:47 a.m
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The US questions Netanyahu's handling of the war in Gaza.
There are also increasing protests in Israel.
The future for the Prime Minister is uncertain.
Jerusalem - In the United States, even Israel's closest friends have begun to say loudly that Benjamin Netanyahu is an obstacle to peace.
The Israeli prime minister is resisting pressure from the White House and Democrats in Congress.
He insists that his government's prosecution of the Gaza war is supported by the majority of the Israeli population - and there are polls that suggest he is right.
“The majority of Israelis support my government’s policies,” Netanyahu told
CNN
on Sunday .
But that doesn't mean they support the man himself.
The popularity of Israel's longest-serving prime minister is at an all-time low among Israeli voters.
But the reasons for this are mostly domestic and have less to do with the way the Israeli military is waging the war in Gaza.
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Netanyahu's government supported by ultranationalists and extremist settlers
Netanyahu's ruling coalition is the most right-wing in Israel's history and is backed by ultra-nationalists and extremist settlers.
But the notion in Washington - expressed most clearly last week by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) - that new elections and Netanyahu's possible defeat would dramatically change Israel's stance toward Gaza and the Palestinians could dramatically change be wishful thinking.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, DN.Y.
© Tom Williams/Imago
International concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has increased sharply this year.
The civilian death toll is rising dramatically and Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries are bringing the northern part of the enclave to the brink of famine.
Polls conducted during the same period show overwhelming and consistent support for the war among Jewish Israelis.
Hamas attacks are moving Israelis to the right
For years, the Israeli center has been moving to the right - a trend accelerated by the brutality of the Hamas attack on October 7th.
Like Netanyahu, the Israeli public has little respect for the 88-year-old Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority, which administers part of the occupied West Bank.
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With the agency widely viewed as corrupt and hostile, Israelis are skeptical of the Biden administration's idea that Palestinian officials and their demoralized security forces can be "revived" to help stabilize postwar Gaza.
Most Israelis also do not support Washington's long-held dream of a "two-state solution" that has been pushed for decades by both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Tamar Hermann, a political scientist at the Israel Democracy Institute, said two recent polls her group conducted found that about 80 percent of Jewish Israelis believe that "Israel should not take into account the suffering of Palestinians as long as hostages are being held in Gaza." .
Public supports the war in Israel – Gaza Strip in ruins
The public still supports the war “massively,” Hermann said, and most Israelis do not want to think about what will happen to the Palestinians unless the hostages are returned.
Currently, the Gaza Strip is struggling daily with heavy bombings, houses and high-rise buildings being leveled to the ground and a severe famine that is bringing tens of thousands of Palestinians close to death.
There are currently more than 30,000 deaths, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip.
Here it is difficult to distinguish between civilians and fighters.
Nevertheless: the majority of the dead are women and children.
And the Israeli public is largely silent.
Israeli media does not report on the humanitarian situation in Gaza
The images of devastation on the Israeli evening news are missing.
No major Israeli politician has spoken out against the war in Israel.
Netanyahu and military officials say enough aid is arriving in Gaza, but not that it is just being diverted and stolen.
Benjamin Netanyahu © Xinhua/Imago
“The Israelis are blind and indifferent to what is happening in Gaza, in terms of civilian deaths and destruction,” said Alon Pinkas, a former diplomat and columnist for the
Haaretz
newspaper .
But he added: "They also instinctively understand that the war didn't achieve much." It is unclear when Israel might hold new elections - in weeks, months or years.
Netanyahu's war cabinet has remained publicly united.
Netanyahu opposes US demands: Prime Minister in election campaign mode
The government could be dissolved by the Israeli parliament, but outsiders are unlikely to influence it.
Netanyahu has pushed back against criticism by saying Israel is not a "banana republic" and that American politicians' calls for new elections are "outrageous."
But the prime minister already appears to be in campaign mode, say analysts, who are eager for a confrontation with President Joe Biden that could energize his base.
Interestingly, Hermann says, her institute's most recent surveys show that more than two-thirds of Israelis believe their lives have returned to "normal" - or the way it was before Hamas militants attacked border communities and a rave Concert attacked.
This terrorist attack killed 1,200 civilians and soldiers and kidnapped more than 250 people to Gaza.
Netanyahu increasingly isolated by war in Gaza
Many Israelis want new elections, but not in the middle of a war.
Analysts warn that this increasing “return to normality” could isolate Netanyahu.
Last week, Schumer warned that Israel was at risk of becoming an international “pariah” under Netanyahu’s leadership.
“We should not be forced to unequivocally support the actions of an Israeli government that includes fanatics who reject the idea of a Palestinian state,” said Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States and a staunch Israel ally.
Biden called it “a good speech.”
A scene at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah, Gaza, on Sunday.
Children suffer the most from the spread of infectious diseases as there is an acute shortage of medicines in the enclave.
The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to almost 18,000, according to the Ministry of Health.
© Loay Ayyoub/The Washington Post
Three of Netanyahu's political rivals - Benny Gantz, Joaw Galant and Gadi Eisenkot - are members of his war cabinet.
They are all military men, either active or retired generals.
None of them are born politicians.
The three have supported the war in its current form, although they have begun to break with Netanyahu by pushing for a clearer post-war plan.
Expert gives assessment: Even without Netanyahu, the war against Israel will continue
Former prime ministers Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett are also possible challengers.
Israeli political analysts believe replacing Netanyahu would change things - but they are unsure how.
A new head of government would clearly represent Israel on the world stage with a new face.
Yonatan Freeman, a political science lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said the Israel Defense Forces would fight the same war "no matter who the prime minister is."
“When it comes to these types of operations, a war is usually fought tactically and politically on the ground.
“It’s about what the Israeli army wants and what it thinks is necessary,” he said.
Others imagine that a new leader of a new government could bring about real change - not in the next month or two of war, but through a gradual change in the status quo.
“I don’t expect any of them to be a big pacifist,” Pinkas said of Netanyahu’s possible successor, since “no one in their right mind is talking about a Palestinian state in Israel right now.”
Israel will “continue to focus on destroying Hamas”
But he added: “I would expect them to start with a ceasefire and a hostage agreement and then deploy an international law and order force in Gaza.
“Followed by an American-sponsored process for a demilitarized, provisional, semi-independent Palestinian state within 10 years.”
In its annual global threats report from the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, American intelligence concluded that Israel "remains focused on destroying Hamas, which enjoys broad popular support."
But the assessment also found that “mistrust in Netanyahu’s ability to govern has deepened and expanded.
... We expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections.
Another, more moderate government is a possibility.”
Mass demonstrations against Netanyahu before October 7th – Autonomous Authority as the best solution
For months before October 7, Israel was paralyzed by mass demonstrations against Netanyahu's attempt to curtail the power of Israel's judges and courts.
Netanyahu faces criminal charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes.
Gideon Rahat, a political science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said other politicians who are not under criminal investigation would not be subject to the "blackmail power of Israel's far-right coalition members," allowing them to behave "much more flexibly and pragmatically."
Gallant recently spoke about the three options Israel has in Gaza: Hamas retains power, Israel retains full control, or a third party, such as the Palestinian Authority, returns to Gaza.
All in all, the third option is the best solution, says Gallant.
“Right now, Netanyahu is not doing anything,” said Ilana Shpaizman, a political science lecturer at Bar-Ilan University.
“He doesn't talk about the day after and the result is that we are in a situation where there is no decision, in a vacuum.
Whoever replaces Netanyahu, something will happen.”
To the author
William Booth
is the London bureau chief of The Washington Post.
He previously served as office manager in Jerusalem, Mexico City, Los Angeles and Miami.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on March 21, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.