Leading figures of the Israeli far-right have made striking statements in recent days. I firmly believe that if anyone other than an Israeli had made them, the scales of judgment would have been brought down immediately, and threats of doom and severe consequences would have followed. But it seems that what is forbidden to others is permissible for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Katz, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, and those of their ilk. Treated as if they are beyond reproach, these people are never wrong, never challenged, and never questioned in their intentions.
Meanwhile, questions about the meaning of Israel's deadly military actions in southern Lebanon continue to grow, as do questions of whether they reflect a genuine rift between Washington and Tel Aviv, or whether Israel's right-wing leadership has chosen to sabotage any possible American-Iranian understanding of its own initiative.
In reality, it should no longer surprise anyone that the current Israeli government is rejecting any serious step toward peace. It is essentially a coalition of extremists who do not believe that an Arab people, particularly a Palestinian people, exists. And even if such people exist, they believe it has no rights to its land. Moreover, the regional accords reached by the Likud government today are seen as temporary breathing space before future conflicts. This pause is useful while Israel "digests" the territories it has occupied in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria, before extending further toward Egypt and Türkiye, and perhaps later Pakistan, likely with Indian support.
In recent days, while waiting for attacks on Lebanese territory to stop, and amid the inability of authorities in Beirut even to persuade the American "mediator" to stop the fighting, we saw examples of Israel’s approach to Lebanon and the region. Here are some examples:
Benjamin Netanyahu personally reaffirmed Likud's view of an impossible peace: "The people of Israel have returned to Israel, and the people of Israel will remain here forever. The reason is that this is our land. It belongs to us. We have returned to the place from which we came, and to the path our ancestors walked." Mr. Netanyahu, in reality, comes from a Polish family.
Commenting on the destruction currently taking place in Lebanon, Israel Katz, Netanyahu's defense minister, said: "The entire front line of Lebanese villages has been destroyed. We are demolishing all the buildings, and the residents (around 200,000 people who have been displaced) will not be allowed to see them still standing before their eyes."
In somewhat more diplomatic language, Foreign Minister Gideon Saaar stated: "Many Western media outlets portray Israel as a colonial project, as though we are not the indigenous people... We are a people who have existed here for more than 3,000 years and have maintained that presence continuously." Saaar's father was of Ukrainian-Moldovan origin and immigrated to Palestine via Argentina during the 1960s, while his mother came from Bukharan Jewish roots in what is now Uzbekistan.
However, these statements pale beside the contributions of the two far-right ministers, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Speaking about Gaza, Finance Minister Smotrich reportedly boasted that: "We control between 60 and 70 percent of the Gaza Strip... where all infrastructure has been destroyed... Gaza will be left in ruins, and its residents will be forced to emigrate because nothing will remain there on which they can survive for decades to come."
As for Lebanon, Ben-Gvir also chimed in in his characteristic style: "For every tear shed by an Israeli mother, thousands of Lebanese mothers will cry. All of Lebanon will burn. Israel must declare clearly to the world that the blood of our children and the security of our citizens will not be wasted. All of Lebanon will be burned. Our greatest duty is to protect Israel's citizens and soldiers, and that obligation stands above all other considerations."
Faced with this collection of statements about coexistence and good neighborly relations "Likud-style," there seems little room left for rational discussion about the prospects for peace while such mindsets and exclusionary political culture remain dominant.
Naturally, there is both a regional and international interest in containing this destructive hubris. The concern extends beyond the economic, political, and military consequences of continued instability in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf region. Two issues have been pushed into the background by the focus on the conflict with Iran.
The first concerns what we hope the administration of President Donald Trump is beginning to recognize: the danger of Israel dragging Washington and the wider world into wars that serve Israeli objectives - just listen to Netanyahu's remarks about potential future conflicts involving Egypt and Türkiye after Syria. If the rationale becomes confronting "Sunni Islam" after having confronted "Shiite Islam," the world should prepare for two global fronts: one between Türkiye and the Christian West, and another between the Islamic East and Hindu-majority India.
The second issue is Israel's and its political, media, technological, and financial lobbies' influence over global affairs, and its silencing of opposition through accusations of antisemitism, ultimately pressuring critics into compliance.
