Why Netanyahu is Losing
The three stated goals of Netanyahu in his relentless war on Gaza are essentially metaphysical and unattainable.
At the outset of his military response to October 7, Netanyahu and his cabinet set out three goals for ‘total victory’ in their campaign against Gaza; in brief, they were to:
- completely eradicate Hamas;
- bring the hostages back;
- and ensure that Israel is secure from all future threats from Gaza.
But all these goals are metaphysical, rhetorical and practically unattainable by means of force. The main thing my reader must take away from this article is that the longer the war drags on the further the prime minister in fact moves from any prospect of realizing his stated aims. Here’s why.
Firstly, the aim of ‘totally eradicating Hamas’ relies on the non-definition of terms. Its rhetorical strength lies precisely in its vagueness, because nobody knows precisely what this means. This uncertainty allows the audience to fill in the gaps according to their own understanding or imagination of the shape of this perceived enemy and allows the actor on the stage an unspecified range of action to interpret what they mean by ‘Hamas’ as they proceed.
We have seen that some prominent people even refer to babies in Gaza and the unborn as potential future Hamas fighters, thus fit and proper targets.
Does it mean destroying the leaders of Hamas? Does it mean killing all members of Hamas? Or only those employed by Hamas, such as the civil services? Or all those who live near or know someone from Hamas? Does it mean eradicating everyone who even thinks of supporting Hamas, both in Gaza and everywhere?
Hamas represents an idea — freedom from colonial occupation — even after five months of relentless war, one thing should be clear: you cannot easily eradicate an idea, such as that of freedom and and the right to self-determination. The fact is. if ideas could be arrested by force of arms, there would be no historical progress.
It is clear that Netanyahu has not been able to do any of the above and will not be able to, despite committing unspeakable crimes, for it is hardly possible to wipe out the idea of anti-colonial resistance without wiping out all the people who wish to the free from occupation.
History teaches us that it is not easy to kill an idea.
By now, in an orgy of merciless violence and epic vandalism, as if they truly intended to leave no stone standing on another, the occupying forces destroyed almost all homes and schools and hospitals and universities, all civil infrastructure and all means of supporting life — everything in sight is reduced to an apocalyptic death-scape of blood-spattered stone and debris — with over 100,000 casualties, over 30,000 dead Gazans, mostly children, over these five horrific months. To what avail?
The litany of lies
It seems that Netanyahu has repeated them so often he has begun to believe his own lies. In his view, he is winning. Yet, since he refuses to face reality or to define what victory (or in his words, “the total destruction of Hamas”) actually means, he cannot be accused of losing. Yet there is no indication that Netanyahu has eradicated Hamas, especially as Tel Aviv is still in negotiations with Hamas.
That is to say, his foremost stated political goal, of vanquishing every trace of the enemy, is unattainable — for the sake of which he has been committing unforgivable crimes against the whole population, something which the world is watching and cannot tolerate.
He has destroyed not just Gaza, but also the legitimacy of Israel.
For even if Israel considers all Gazans as hostile enemies, as ‘Hamas’, and sought to destroy all Gaza’s people as a ‘final solution’ to the native problem, a maximum last resort to totally eliminate Hamas, it would still amount to genocide and the total de-legitimation of Israel — Netanyahu cannot proceed without destroying what he claims to be defending: Israel.
The hostages
Secondly, the families of the hostages taken captive on October 7 know better than anyone that the longer the war continues, with endless bombardments, massacres and starvation of the population, the smaller are the chances of getting their people back safely.
This means simply that an immediate and lasting ceasefire is the best option for the quick return of the hostages, on both sides, and this would seem to be the just and proper thing to do. But no.
So, the unrelenting war and obstinacy of the right-wing faction in power in the face of obvious facts that everybody can see, now presents the greatest obstacle not just to any peace but even to their own stated goal of returning the hostages safely, since this is theirs for the asking. Instead, the madman has held the world hostage on the never-coming prospect of a ceasefire and a never-ending war. This has created explosive political tensions all round.
Thirdly, as to his promise to provide better security, we have instead seen unprecedented global protests and anger at Israel’s behavior and impunity.
The resistance quickly galvanized and globalized from the streets of London to Cape Town to Tokyo to the Hague; while the Yemenis and Hezbollah continue to launch attacks on Israel and its partners in protest against Netanyahu’s policy of extermination. They feel justified in fighting back and have said they would only stop if he desists from attacking an unarmed population. Who can fault them?
Clearly, the very nature of his conduct of the war on Gaza is the main cause of this current belligerence. Large areas of Israel have had to be evacuated in the north and south, and the longer the war drags on it is likely that the ever-changing borders of Israel would become even less secure and costly to defend, as other countries under pressure from their own citizens to prevent genocide, are forced — even against their will — to intervene.
We have seen countries dropping aid by air to try to break the siege and blockade on Gaza. So, even if these countries do not intervene militarily, the situation leaves Israel isolated on the world stage, a pariah, as we have seen at the UN General Assembly. Israel is no longer the darling of the West but is widely reviled for the impunity with which it conducts itself and prosecutes its endless siege and war on a largely captive population.
The mounting boycott
As this universal revulsion at Israel translates into economic terms, it soon becomes clear that the game is up, because like other colonial projects it will simply become economically unviable.
Having noted the great human cost of his colonial ambitions and the fact that he had not attained any of his stated goals in this war — and indeed is getting further and further away from them — we have to look to his unstated aims, as per his actions for a true guide to his intent and policy, which the ICJ conceded months ago can plausibly be considered genocide. Most of the world has come to see it as an actual genocide.
Netanyahu overplayed his hand. He tried to deceive and defy all humankind with a wry smile and truly wicked plan. That was his great hubris. He believed he could not just tell the world what is real, but he could decide what is real and nobody could stop him. He and Regev would determine what is true and we would have to believe it, even when our eyes tell us otherwise. This constant war against reality, the rejection of peremptory norms and indisputable facts is a defining feature of the regime in Tel Aviv, who present their case as a divine messianic mission.
The Catastrophe
It seems relevant to note here that the ancient koine Greek word ‘katastrophḗ’ (s. καταστρέφω) refers to a state of total destruction, where nothing is in its place: ruin. καταστροφῇ κατακρίνειν means to condemn to destruction, and fittingly, ἐπὶ καταστροφῇ τῶν ἀκουόντων means to ruin the audience, by depriving them of the truth.
The word ‘katastrophḗ’ contains its opposite within itself: ‘trophḗ’, τροφή, ῆς, ἡ (τρέφω) meaning ‘nourishment’, and τροφὴν λαβεῖν means to take nourishment. So, the very notion of a catastrophe derives from its opposite, the negation of ‘trophḗ’: absence of food, thus hunger, famine.
By starving the people of Gaza, the prime minister has sadly helped the world rediscover the true meaning of this word, ‘catastrophe’, since he has been the main author of this evil chapter in human history, by which he has not only brought ruin on the houses and hopes of millions of Palestinians but has also destroyed his audience who were forced to listen to his lies and watch his unforgiving brutality.
That his stated goals are unattainable must by now be clear even to the blind. It is to his unstated goals and evidence of these that the courts must look.
Netanyahu finds himself on the losing side of history, a man trying to hold back the river with his oars, he imagines he can reverse the direction and main trajectory of modern history, which tends towards decolonization and the entrenchment of the right of nations to self-determination, because it reflects the will of the overwhelming majority of humanity. The Zionist colonial project is up against the very logic and force of history itself.
While the world has grown weary and has run out of patience with him, he still stubbornly refuses to see that his time has run out. By his gruesome conduct Netanyahu has exposed the true nature of colonialism and has only hastened the moment of reckoning for the settler project in Palestine by showing the world what colonialism actually means.
