Articles - Al Mayadeen - Date: 2025-03-19

By: Oraib Al Rantawi

Netanyahu and the fascist right-wing government have resumed the war on Gaza, driven by multiple factors and considerations, primarily internal ones, after receiving the U.S. green light to fulfill the threats to rain hell down on Hamas and the people of Gaza that Trump has continuously hurled morning and night, echoed by his envoys and the pillars of his far-right administration. 

On the internal level, Netanyahu seeks to solidify his fascist right-wing coalition after it suffered some fractures and cracks, which peaked with the Otzma Yehudit party's withdrawal from the government. Nothing satisfies the bloodthirsty right-wing except shedding the Palestinians' blood and appropriating their land, rights, and holy sites. It is as if we are witnessing a scene where the PM distributes 'bloody gifts' to the coalition partners. With his right hand, he grants Smotrich and the Religious Zionists what they demand to stay in the coalition, permitting incursions into West Bank camps and towns and escalating settlement expansion; with his left hand, he gives Ben Gvir and his even more extremist faction the blood and dismembered bodies of Gaza's women and children that they crave to see, as always with explicit U.S. approval. Silent complicity is no longer in this administration's vocabulary.

Netanyahu and his government are awaiting the budget approval. In Israel, voting on the budget is traditionally a vote of confidence in the government, and Netanyahu wants to approach this milestone armed with a strong and secure majority to ensure his government's survival until the end of its term next year. Some in Israel fear that Netanyahu harbors a covert desire to delay elections rather than call them early, as the majority of Israeli society demands. These fears are tied to hidden and sinister intentions warned about by opposition leaders, who suspect Netanyahu may tamper with the ballot boxes. This suspicion is fueled by his insistence on dismissing Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and replacing him with a figure from the fascist Religious Zionism movement, which is infiltrating security, military, civil, political, judicial, and executive state institutions.

Another internal driver for resuming the war on Gaza is Netanyahu and his team's fear of an outraged public uprising erupting against his government's policies, and indeed, against him personally. In recent days, voices have risen in protest over the deliberate sabotage of negotiations, Bar's dismissal, and preparations to oust the government's legal advisor. These developments signaled the risk of popular protests entering a phase where they can no longer be controlled or their cries disregarded, especially as the movement is joined by new forces and groups that previously kept out of the streets, such as university presidents, the academic community, and political parties that had kept a relative distance from the demonstrations staged by the families of the captives. There is no better way to avoid this confrontation and minimize the intensity of public gathering in the streets and squares than to plunge the Israelis into a full-scale war.

Also lurking in the background of Netanyahu's decision to resume the war is the specter of trials and investigations that are increasingly closing in on him like a malignant weed. The investigations into corruption scandals, bribery, and abuse of power may not even be the most significant among them. There is also the case of 'Qatari infiltration' into Netanyahu's office, which Ronen Bar is personally overseeing, as well as the specter of 'negligence' on October 7 and the subsequent mismanagement of the longest Arab/Israeli war in history. Each of these cases alone is enough to end Netanyahu's political career, and perhaps even the personal future of the 'King of Israel.'

As argued in the Palestinian resistance factions' statements on the decision to resume the war, Netanyahu is using Palestinian blood and dismembered bodies as a lifeboat to escape the turbulent sea threatening to swallow him and endangering both his government's survival and the rare historic opportunity that has emerged for the fascist right-wing project, in both its components: First, eradicating the Palestinians, their resistance, and their national aspirations, and second, reshaping the Jewish state in the image and standards of the neofascists, in a manner that ends the era of secular-liberal Zionism that characterized its founding and early stages.

On the external level, what Netanyahu is doing is nothing more than a crude imitation of what Trump is doing, or threatening to do. Netanyahu is opening the gates of hell on Gaza and Hamas, in fulfillment of Trump's threats. Last Saturday, he decided to resume the war, in conjunction with envoy Steve Witkoff's warning that Hamas had very little time left before the tables would turn on its leaders. This synchronization dispelled rumors about the end of the 'honeymoon period' between Washington and Tel Aviv and a widening rift between the White House and the Kirya.

It is certain that Trump, his team, and his administration do not care, in any way, about Netanyahu's tampering with the Israeli political system. In my opinion, the coup that the man is staging against the Israeli political system – against secular, liberal Zionism – in a blatant and rapid manner is music to the ears of the residents of the White House, who are doing something similar themselves. They are leading a coup against the system and against the United States we have known for at least a hundred years. Both Netanyahu and Trump are adding authoritarian features to their governments, both have taken and continue to take approaches that disregard international and humanitarian law, and both defy the established norms and conventions of international relations. They are two sides of the same ugly coin.

It is difficult to predict how events will unfold on the ground. The answer to this question will be determined here in Gaza, and here alone. Gaza has no hope for external support capable of changing the course and direction of the war, given all the painful blows its allies have suffered over the past year and a half. Nor is there any hope for an 'Arab awakening', either official or popular; since none has occurred in the past 17 months, and there is no reason to believe it will happen in the final chapter of this campaign of isolation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

The bloodshed of Palestinians is likely to continue at least until Netanyahu's government secures the vote of confidence and the budget approval, meaning Gaza could face a war lasting several weeks or even longer. Israel appears to have decided to replicate the strategy it used in Lebanon in Gaza by resorting to continuous aerial bombardment and limited ground incursions, with varying levels of intensity based on the developments of Israeli domestic politics and the shifting dynamics of negotiations moving between Cairo, Doha, and the rounds led by Witkoff and his associates.

General Eyal Zamir has arrived with enthusiasm as the new army chief of staff to continue the killing and destruction of Palestinians and what remains of their properties. He appears to be relying on 'shock and awe' tactics, betting that the steadfastness and resilience of the resistance's support base after two months of relative calm (during which 155 people were killed) will be significantly weaker than it was during the prolonged war. This tactic, we believe, appeals to the political leadership in Tel Aviv, and in Washington as well. The displacement project, which has taken a back seat but has not been buried, may rear its ugly head once again, especially as the two strategic partners continue their search for a new destination for the forcibly displaced after encountering closed doors in Egypt and Jordan, their efforts extending to include Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland, Syria, and other fragile states. The Trump administration is promising these nations' leaders – who are eager for 'legitimacy' and 'international recognition' – incentives and consolation prizes.

Resuming the war on Gaza is a negotiating tactic, or 'negotiation through fire' tactic, that could last for days or several weeks at minimum. At its maximum, however, it is the continuation of the genocide, ethnic cleansing, and displacement scheme seeking to decapitate the resistance and expel its people in preparation for completing the mission in the West Bank. Which scenario will prevail? It all depends on the resilience of the people of Gaza and the steadfastness of its resistance fighters.