The court of the first quarter of the 21st Century resumed its meetings. The judges spent a long time studying the accused's case. It is violent, terrifying, and a reminder of what rulers were like during World War II. They leafed through papers that smelled like blood, witnessed the piles of small corpses, heard the wailing of children under the rubble, saw the mountains of rubble, and watched as people jostled for a breadcrumb or a handful of rice.
The judges had never encountered such an accused. No one has claimed more Palestinian lives than him. He is the envy of Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Rabin, who eventually gave up on breaking Palestinians to shake hands with Yasser Arafat.
No one has claimed more Hezbollah leaders, Iranian Revolutionary Guards members, Iranian soldiers and nuclear scientists and Houthis than him.
The judges were afraid. This man kills everywhere he can without batting an eyelash. He reviles international law and borders. His hatred has no limit, and he has a long arm. His planes show no mercy and drones are adept at killing. He wiped out Iran's nuclear archive, eliminated the Houthi government and boasted about killing two Hezbollah secretary-generals in a handful of days.
This is a very dangerous accused. He is a master of maneuvering. If he is forced to accept a ceasefire, then he booby-traps its articles. He reserves a piece of enemy territory to himself. He reserves the right to keep on killing. Donald Trump forced him to rein in his bloody frenzy, but it is just a short pause between two wars. His American education taught him how to tango with successive administrations.
His arrogance knows no bounds. He allows himself to speak at Congress to defy the leader of the world's sole superpower. American weapons are the backbone of his country's arsenal, but he does not act like a subordinate. He commits massacres and then acts like the victim. Peace for him is an act of unconditional surrender to his enemies.
The judges became confused. The man is his country's longest standing prime minister. He was elected by the people, so it is as if they tasked him with the killing. He has been charged with corruption and taking bribes - enough to take down any official, but not him.
He heads to polls and is re-elected to his "mission" by the far-right. He heads to court where he is surrounded by his supporters. He excuses himself from court for an emergency, only to issue orders for an assassination or unprecedented raid. He is a master of deception and surprises.
The world was preoccupied with the horrors of Gaza when he opened a new hotspot in the region. He recognized Somaliland when no one else had. He wants to establish a foothold near the Gulf of Aden and Mandeb Strait. He wants to watch the Houthis up-close.
Benjamin Netanyahu entered the court. He smiled as the judges counted the charges against him. He said: "This is a strange court, your honor. It never occurred to it to summon Yehya al-Sinwar when he launched his so-called 'flood'. It never tried to summon Hassan Nasrallah when he launched his 'support war'. It preoccupied itself with the war while never asking who fired the first shot."
"Your honor, in June 1976, Wadie Haddad's group hijacked a plane in Entebbe, Uganda. Onboard were a number of Israelis. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin refused to yield to the hijackers. He sent a commando force led by my brother, Yonatan Netanyahu, to free the hostages. The operation was a success, but my brother was killed. I swore over his body that I would adopt Haddad's slogan, and that is: 'After the enemy, everywhere'. And this is what I have always done."
"I also learned from my historian father that fate has brought us in a narrow space together with the Palestinians. There is no room in this place for two peoples, two flags and two countries. That is why Israel has since its creation been waging an open-ended existential war where you either kill or are killed," he added.
"One day, a man named Yasser Arafat tricked a man called Yitzhak Rabin. They shook hands at the White House. Arafat pretended to accept some territories. He exploited Oslo to plant on this narrow space a Palestinian flag and keffiyeh. Arafat wanted to confront Israel inside its own home. He was playing for time and a growing population. Israel can never forget that Arafat was behind the first bullet that was fired in the mid-1960s and that brought conflict to this narrow territory that does not fit two peoples."
"Your honor, the Americans and the Europeans do not know the Middle East. This difficult part of the world weighs heavily on the present and future. So, when Qassem Soleimani attempted to surround Israel with rockets and militias, he found allies in several countries. In wake of the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, I had no choice but to respond with a flood of flames. I flipped the equation in the Middle East and changed its features."
"And now we have Gaza without Sinwar and Hamas must lay down its weapons. Lebanon is without Nasrallah and Hezbollah must lay down its weapons. Syria is without Bashar al-Assad and must be a weapons-free zone. I dispatched jets and punished Soleimani's Iran and dealt a blow to its image. I will send them again when the time is right. Donald Trump's green light will happen soon enough."
Netanyahu argued long with the judges when they questioned him about genocide, displacement and starvation. He suddenly requested to be excused, possibly to issue an assassination or strike order.
