LThe historian knows from experience how opinions gradually adapt to conflicts that arise over time. It is no less disturbing to note that the war in Gaza has become trivialized even more quickly than that in Ukraine. The losses in Ukraine are, however, much more military than civilian, while the milestone of one percent of the population killed is about to be crossed in Gaza. Such a dizzying figure would represent 650,000 deaths across France, including 250,000 children, as well as millions of injured, mutilated, traumatized and orphans.
However, nothing allows us to foresee the end of such a tragedy. Benjamin Netanyahu, but also Vladimir Putin, have every interest in prolonging the conflict with the prospect of a possible re-election of Donald Trump, to which they both aspire. It is time for Europe to pull itself together to avoid such a disastrous scenario.
Benjamin Netanyahu is not only gambling on his political survival in the war in Gaza. The indefinite prolongation of the conflict is also his best guarantee of retaining his immunity as head of government, while the triple proceedings opened since 2019 against him for corruption, fraud and breach of trust could very well end in a prison sentence. This is undoubtedly why he assigned to his army the more rhetorical than military objective of a “ eradication » of Hamas, an objective which has very little chance of being achieved, even at the cost of the methodical destruction of the Gaza Strip.
A double bet on Trump
It doesn’t matter to Benjamin Netanyahu, for whom the continuation of hostilities has become an end in itself, not only to maintain power in Israel but also to weaken Joe Biden, whose Democratic Party has never been so divided. The Israeli Prime Minister is constantly banking on the return to the White House of Donald Trump, who gave him unconditional support from 2017 to 2020.
Benjamin Netanyahu is not the only one to make this calculation. Vladimir Putin, with whom the head of the Israeli government has much more affinity than with Joe Biden, is convinced that the re-election of Donald Trump will ensure victory against Ukraine. The Russian president is now emerging as the big winner of the war in Gaza, as Western democracies prove incapable of defending in the Middle East the principles of law in the name of which they have nevertheless committed to supporting Ukraine.
You have 55% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.