To name wars is to claim ownership of them. The one Israel is currently fighting already has several names. While most Israelis refer to it as the “October 7 War,” and the military has dubbed it “Swords of Iron,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered another name on the occasion of National Memorial Day: the “War of Rebirth.”
This name reflected the Israeli leader’s relentless efforts to make people forget his responsibility for what remains the country’s biggest security failure. A year after “Black Saturday,” which saw Israeli defenses crumble along with his reputation as “Mr. Security,” Netanyahu — who celebrates his 75th birthday October 21 — is refining the narrative of his war. The conflict took a new turn September 27, when he, after delivering a defiant speech at the United Nations, gave the green light to bomb a building in Beirut where Hassan Nasrallah was meeting with his generals, killing the Hezbollah leader.
Galvanized by this tactical victory that restored Israel’s deterrent power, Netanyahu now promised not only a “total victory” over Hamas but also to “bring back the residents of the north” who were displaced by Hezbollah’s rockets “to their homes” and to “change the balance of power in the region for years to come.”
While the prime minister’s popularity was at its lowest when the cameras were focused on Gaza, he has bounced back in the polls since the operations against Hezbollah and Iran. However, nearly half (47%) of Israelis believe that new elections should be held before the end of 2024, according to a poll by the Israeli Democracy Institute in early October.
Ambitious… and vague objectives
So far, during his 17 years in power, Netanyahu has always avoided long and direct confrontations. This time, he is using objectives as ambitious as they are vague as leverage to prolong a war that has already become the longest Israel has ever fought. With Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar eliminated on October 17, the prime minister’s focus can now turn firmly towards Hezbollah and Iran.
“This is not the end of the war in Gaza, but the beginning of the end,” he declared following the announcement of the death of the Hamas leader. “With this phrase, Netanyahu proves that Sinwar’s death will not change the course of a war in which he seeks to reshape Israel’s geopolitical environment,” said Amjad Iraqi, analyst and member of the Al-Shabaka think tank.
Ground operations in Rafah in May, the September incident with beepers in Lebanon, the massive attack on that country since October 1, escalation with Iran, the siege of northern Gaza… Netanyahu dictates the pace, crossing red lines one after another, leaving the international community to protest weakly after facing a fait accompli. Meanwhile, hostage families count the days of not seeing their loved ones who are dying in Gaza.
“When the war broke out, I begged him to admit his responsibility, but he preferred to blame his generals and security chiefs,” recounted Eyal Megged, an Israeli writer once close to the prime minister, in an opinion piece published by the Israeli daily Haaretz. “Any possibility of ending the war, of no longer walking on the edge of the abyss, he systematically rejects. Each time, he comes up with a new stratagem.”
Shifting the focus of the conflict to Hezbollah and Iran
A master of time, decisions, and narrative, Netanyahu is gradually shifting the focus of the conflict to Hezbollah and Iran, making Gaza a secondary battlefield where the issue of “the day after” is no longer a priority in the face of the “Iranian octopus” threat. If the Israeli generals had their way, they would have struck Lebanon from the outset. On October 11, 2023, they proposed a northern attack plan, which the prime minister rejected in favor of prioritizing Gaza. In June, generals Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot resigned from the war cabinet, frustrated with the government’s lack of long-term goals. Relations between Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, are deteriorating.
“The government listens neither to the security forces’ advice nor the hostage families’ requests, relying instead on its solid base, which supports its approach in the West Bank and more broadly the war on multiple fronts,” said Mairav Zonszein, an Israeli analyst at the Crisis Group, emphasizing the ideology that drives the prime minister: “The ministers on whom Netanyahu relies to stay in power have openly stated that they want to control the territory from the river to the sea.”
In February, the prime minister declared that the “creation of a Palestinian state would not only fail to bring peace but would endanger the State of Israel,” officially closing the door on a solution he had quietly opposed for 15 years. Within his Likud party, a conference is being organized October 21 to recolonize Gaza, normalizing the idea of annexing the enclave.
Endless conflict
Israel is now preparing its response to Iran’s October 1 attack, not without raising serious concerns. “We are on the verge of the most fateful decision this incompetent government will make: going to war with the most powerful enemy, without a clear objective, without public mandate, and with American support granted only under threats, blackmail, and great mistrust,” lamented Eran Etzion, former deputy head of the National Security Council (2005-2008).
This endless conflict is taking its toll on Israel. Reservists are exhausted, and the economy is deteriorating, as is Israel’s reputation. While the Israeli army pounds Lebanon and besieges civilians in northern Gaza, the international community is raising the threat of an arms embargo. Israel is under investigation by the International Court of Justice for possible “genocidal acts” in Gaza, while the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in May against Netanyahu, suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“Netanyahu shaped Israel’s security policy, but reducing the conversation to Bibi fuels the process that led to October 7: we focus on individuals rather than the real threats,” said Amit Segal, a journalist and right-wing political commentator. “Netanyahu wants to delay the end of the war as much as possible because he knows there is no solution in sight: we cannot deport the Palestinians nor grant them Israeli citizenship, and he sees the creation of a Palestinian state as dangerous. So, he lets time pass.”
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“Bibi” Netanyahu, a veteran of politics
A descendant of Lithuanian Jews, Benjamin Netanyahu, nicknamed “Bibi,” served in an elite unit of the Israeli army, as did his brother, who was killed during the Entebbe raid in 1976, aimed at freeing hostages from a hijacked plane in Uganda. After working in the private sector in the United States, he became an adviser to the Israeli embassy in the U.S. in 1982.
He was elected to the Knesset in 1988 and entered government for the first time the same year as Deputy Foreign Minister.
As leader of the Likud (conservative) party, Netanyahu became Israel’s youngest Prime Minister in 1996, at the age of 47. He remained in office until 1999. He returned to lead the government from 2009 to 2021 and then again in December 2022.