In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has “become a warmonger because he has no choice”

INTERNATIONAL – A headlong rush. This Monday, October 7, will mark the first year of war between Israel and Hamas, after the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil. A conflict during which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has constantly been on the front line, raising the risk of an existential threat to the Jewish state in order to respond violently on the Palestinian enclave.

Correspondent for France 2 in Jerusalem from 1981 to 2015, the Franco-Israeli author Charles Enderlin has just published The Great Blindness, Israel facing radical Islam (Éditions Albin Michel) an expanded version of his book in the light of the 365 days that shook the region. For Le HuffPost he deciphers the strategy and image of Benjamin Netanyahu.

HuffPost. You describe how Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to power in 2009 illustrates the beginning of the “descent into hell” of Israel. What are the reasons?

Charles Enderlin. The Benjamin Netanyahu who returned to power in 2009 has taken off his mask. He is no longer the one who, in 1996, had to negotiate with Yasser Arafat (former president of the Palestinian Authority), accept agreements… Since then, Yasser Arafat has disappeared, there has been the second intifada, suicide attacks and above all, in 2005, the choice of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to leave Gaza to Hamas.

Returning to power, Netanyahu continues this policy by allowing a huge flow of money to pass towards the Palestinian enclave. It also prohibits any targeted elimination of Hamas leaders. In 2012, he also banned Mossad from attacking Hamas’s finances. Enough to allow the Islamist organization to bring in enormous funds from Turkey and Qatar. All this with the blessing of the Israelis, therefore. This is how the construction of hundreds of kilometers of tunnels began…

Can we go so far as to say that Benjamin Netanyahu has a responsibility for the situation we have been observing for a year?

In reality, everything changed in 2011. In parallel with the Arab Spring, a huge social movement developed in Israel against the cost of living and real estate. The international press even speaks of a “ israeli spring “. And Benjamin Netanyahu was scared. In his entourage, he was suggested to divert attention with an exchange of prisoners to free the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held for 5 years in the Hamas tunnels. An agreement is signed. Among the 1,027 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons are 200 men from the armed wing of Hamas, including Yahya Sinouar (current head of the Hamas political bureau). The rest, we know it.

Benjamin Netanyahu is therefore responsible for this policy of encouraging Hamas. He himself declared in 2019 that to prevent the Palestinian state it was necessary to authorize the financing of Hamas. The idea was that Hamas would just manage Gaza.

But already at the time, some analysts disagreed, considering that the objective of a fundamentalist movement like Hamas remains the destruction of Israel, moreover predicted for 2027. In 2024, Hamas theologians believe that this process has started.

And since October 7, how do you analyze Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy?

On that day, Hamas launched its great attack. The next day, Hezbollah began bombing the entire Lebanese border. 60,000 to 70,000 Israelis were displaced and have still not returned home. Hezbollah’s bombings from Lebanon destroyed thousands of Israeli installations, completely paralyzing the region’s economy. But the Israelis clearly let this happen so as not to have a war on two fronts. At the end of October, they launched the major operation in Gaza, in a manner which, in my opinion, was catastrophic because the army had never prepared for the reconquest of Gaza. Like taking into account the civilian population, hence this humanitarian catastrophe for which the Israeli army bears enormous responsibility.

And Benjamin Netanyahu refused the proposal for a ceasefire agreement including the release of hostages against prisoners submitted by the Biden administration and Saudi Arabia, with the entry of Israel into a Sunni anti-Iranian alliance. He said no because the deal required a Palestinian component and he is fundamentally opposed to the existence of a Palestinian state. At that time, it was necessary to begin to resolve the problem of Hezbollah which presented a threat not only to the border localities but also to the interior of Israeli territory.

The army therefore ended up having the green light from the Prime Minister to launch the major preventive offensive against Hezbollah. First with pagers, walkie-talkies and then targeted liquidations in Beirut.

Do these actions surprise you, considering who Benjamin Netanyahu is?

Benjamin Netanyahu has never been a warmonger. He became one because he had no choice. In the past, he has always opposed the targeted liquidation of Hamas leaders. As in 2014, when plans for a Hamas attack on neighboring towns in Gaza were presented to him; It was ultimately this same plan that took place on October 7, 2023. He had even proposed ceasefire agreements nine times. The Hamas leader at the time refused them all, before finally giving in. Immediately after October 7, he also refused to launch the major operation against Hezbollah.

There he has no choice: missiles fall on Israel, the population is fed up, there are victims, soldiers die in combat…

Yet that does not mean that Israel faces an existential threat, whether from Hezbollah or Iran. Israel remains the main military power in the region, with certain means that the country has clearly still not used. In my opinion, the only existential threat to Israel is internal…

After a year of war, what about its popularity? Can the demonstrations that took place for months get the better of him?

All polls show that if there were to be new elections these days, the ruling coalition would lose. So there is no reason for her to accept elections. The next ones are planned for October 2026.

And there is no reason for this government to agree to elections, no matter how big the protests. Benjamin Netanyahu will stay in power as long as possible, until the next elections. If they are maintained…

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