Netanyahu scuppers Gaza ceasefire to shore up his political survival
The Israeli prime minister guarantees the stability of the coalition with a massive wave of bombings after two months of boycotting the truce agreement with Hamas
Henry Kissinger, the most powerful U.S. secretary of state during the Cold War, once wrote that Israel has no foreign policy, only a domestic policy. Rarely has this phrase been more true than Tuesday, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unexpectedly shattered the ceasefire in Gaza, before it had even reached its second month, with a massive wave of bombing that left more than 400 people dead, including numerous children and women. In fact, two words explain what happened better than all the justifications presented throughout the day by Netanyahu or his defense and foreign ministers, Israel Katz and Gideon Sa’ar. They are “as promised,” and they were uttered by Bezalel Smotrich — the far-right finance minister who favors permanently maintaining troops in Gaza and reoccupying it — as he celebrated the resumption of large-scale attacks. Two months earlier, he claimed to have received “assurances” from Netanyahu, the cabinet, “and other sources” that the war would not end “in any way” without “the complete destruction of Hamas,” in exchange for Smotrich remaining in the government, despite his opposition to the ceasefire with Hamas.
