Even US President Donald Trump seems to have lost his patience with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, offering him both a note and a piece of advice. He said: “They’re gonna have to get that war over with. But it is hurting Israel. There’s no question about it. They may be winning the war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations.”
Netanyahu is searching for alternative countries to which he could send one million Gazans. Syria, Somalia, Somaliland, South Sudan, and Indonesia were mentioned. Of course, Netanyahu does not want them geographically close, nor has he tried to look into Canada or Europe for fear they could become a counterforce.
Netanyahu only knows one thing clearly: The slow destruction of Gaza. Yet he has not come up with a solution for the post-war phase. It seems he does not want to end the war without a program to displace a large portion of Gaza’s residents and it seems he has failed to secure suitable destinations.
And it is not true, as has been rumored, that he wants to push Palestinians into Israel’s security periphery, such as Syria, because settling them there could become a future threat, as it did in Lebanon. Nor does it appear that any of the other countries agreed to the numbers he seeks to deport.
In the Gaza war, Netanyahu committed widespread crimes that killed more than 50,000 people and also led to the deaths of dozens of Israeli hostages. Yet this does not seem to trouble him or keep him awake at night. He continues his response not to stop the war, and he has rejected all versions of ceasefire proposals, including those engineered by Trump’s envoys.
He allows only small amounts of food and medical aid in, claiming suspicion over their contents and who controls them. Yet this was an issue that could have been resolved from the start.
He questions the aid passing through the Egyptian crossing or airdrops of relief supplies, though other solutions exist. He could have allowed aid through Israel itself under its supervision. Israel’s Ashdod seaport is only 40 kilometers from Gaza. Likewise, by air, aid could have been sent through Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, which lies just 70 kilometers away by road.
As for the hostages, they rank last in Netanyahu’s priorities. He is backed in this by military leaders who share in defining the goals of the war. Hamas’s continued holding of them has made it easier for Israel to justify the war to the world.
The truth is, Netanyahu has for years used Hamas to serve his agendas in three propaganda tracks: first, to split the Palestinian ranks; second, to stall any political solution; and third, to brand Palestinians, through Hamas, as armed Islamist groups dangerous to the West. When Hamas launched its wide-scale attacks on October 7, 2023, the region opened up to him, granting him license to destroy all opposing armed forces.
From the start of the military campaign in Gaza, Hamas should have withdrawn from the Strip to deny Netanyahu the chance to destroy it and commit these massacres. This is what Yasser Arafat did when Sharon’s forces besieged Beirut in 1982, choosing to leave with his men.
Hamas caused all these massacres and, in every round, bends and offers new concessions that are no longer enough for Netanyahu. If Iran, bristling with weapons, has refrained from escalating further and accepted its losses, and if Hezbollah, the giant militia, signed a ceasefire agreement and endured heavy losses of leaders, fighters, and resources, then who is Hamas to continue its defiance and give Israel justification to destroy what remains?
The few who defend Hamas might cite Trump’s words mentioned earlier in this article that Netanyahu is losing public opinion. They consider public opinion a victory, but such victories are flimsy illusions and media bubbles that people soon forget.
Netanyahu has been losing in the media for twenty years, and it does not bother him much. It would matter only if President Trump worried about its effect on his own elections, forcing him to intervene or rally UN Security Council members to punish Israel. None of this has happened, nor will it happen.
The media and political embarrassment for Israel is nothing more than background noise for Netanyahu. In fact, it gives him the image of a leader protecting Israelis before the world, winning him more support and admiration. Added to his gains in Gaza is his victory in the battle against US universities, defeating protesters and tightening the noose around pro-Gaza groups. So what has Hamas – or the Palestinian cause – gained from this war in propaganda terms? Nothing but fleeting boastfulness, while in reality the losses on the ground are catastrophic.
