Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has engaged in increasingly public spat this week with the military, right-wing coalition partners and his strongest supporter, the White House. The series of conflicts with allies who sided with him in the fight against Hamas has reignited difficult questions about the future of the war and the political survival of the Israeli leader himself.
“We are fighting on multiple fronts,” Netanyahu said in a statement this week telling his bickering coalition partners to “pull themselves together.” But he could easily have described himself.
Nine months into the war, Mr. Netanyahu finds himself increasingly isolated. His promise of “complete victory” over Hamas runs counter to his military leadership, which has eased combat operations in Gaza and signaled that only a ceasefire could bring the remaining Israeli hostages home. He has sought to appease or knock off right-wing allies whose support he needs to maintain his presidency but whose hawkish stance on war and Palestinian rights has drawn international condemnation.
Analysts say this combative strategy reflects Netanyahu’s need to balance competing interests. That means showing domestic audiences that he stands up for the country amid rising global anger over the war, while keeping his right-wing allies close enough to avoid war. Don’t abandon him.
Nonetheless, he is picking a dangerous fight with the Biden administration, which has been supplying key weapons while providing political cover for Israel’s destructive military campaign. On Monday, President Biden overcame opposition in Congress to finalize an $18 billion deal for F-15 fighter jets, one of the largest U.S. arms sales to Israel.
But the next day, Mr. Netanyahu posted a video accusing the United States of withholding some heavy bombs, an apparent reference to the Biden administration’s decision to hold up a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs over concerns about their use in populated areas. That’s it. Let’s go.
The video drew a sharp response from White House press secretary John F. Kirby on Thursday. “No other country has done more or will do more than the United States to help Israel defend itself,” he said. The Israeli leader’s comments were “very disappointing and certainly irritating to us,” Kirby added.
Soon after, Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a statement saying Israel was “willing to accept personal attacks if that is what it takes to secure the weapons and ammunition it needs in its war for survival.”
The Biden administration has expressed growing dissatisfaction with the direction of the war, but in an election year there are few signs that Mr. Biden will significantly scale back U.S. support for Israel. Netanyahu maintains strong support from Republicans in Washington, and he has led an effort to invite the Israeli leader to address a joint session of Congress next month, an apparent bid to make his opposition to the war an election issue for some progressive Democrats. It was an attempt.
More pressing for Mr. Netanyahu at home is the rift with his military leadership, which has deepened this week as well.
In a public display of frustration that has been simmering for months, the military’s top spokesman, Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari, appeared to criticize Netanyahu’s oft-repeated calls for “complete victory.” Hamas, to make Hamas disappear is to throw sand in the eyes of the public.”
The military said Wednesday it was easing some of its wartime restrictions on Israeli communities near the border and said it wanted to reduce fighting in the Gaza Strip, saying it was very close to defeating Hamas forces in Rafah. The last stronghold of an armed group.
But Netanyahu has shown no sign of wanting to end the war, rejecting a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal that called for a cessation of hostilities, rescue of hostages and open talks for a permanent truce. After meeting with the families of his hostages in his Jerusalem office on Thursday, Netanyahu indicated he wanted Israeli forces to continue fighting.
“When you are in Gaza, the pressure changes. Our actions create opportunities for the return of hostages,” he said, according to a statement issued by his office. “We will not leave Gaza until all the hostages are returned, and we will not leave until we eliminate Hamas’s military and ability to govern.”
This position is supported by ministers in his right-wing cabinet, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. But both are opposed to a change in Israeli law that would allow the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews, a change the military says is needed to reduce the toll of war and another point of contention between military leaders and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
But the Israeli leader also quarreled with Mr Ben-Gbir. Netanyahu this week dissolved his informal war cabinet after far-right ministers demanded a greater role in wartime decision-making, in what analysts said was an effort to sideline Prime Minister Ben Gvir. Members of Mr. Netanyahu’s party later accused Mr. Ben Gvir of leaking state secrets.
Amos Harel, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz who is often critical of Mr. Netanyahu, wrote that the prime minister was “opening fire” at “everyone who gets in his way.”
“In security, politics and Israel’s foreign relations, Netanyahu continues to pursue a policy of brinkmanship and is using even more extreme methods during the war,” he wrote in a column published Friday.
