Contents
Have Prime Minister Netanyahu’s policies strengthened Hamas instead of protecting Israel? Assessments of his biographer.
Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to go down in the history books as the protector of Israel – now Israel’s nightmare came true during his term in office: the massacre of October 7th. The prime minister is waging war against Hamas – and at the same time fighting for his political survival.
Critics blame his policies for the terrorist attack. Netanyahu’s popularity is plummeting. “70 to 80 percent of the population supports the war against Hamas. At the same time, just as many citizens are calling for the Prime Minister to resign,” says Anshel Pfeffer. This is unusual in times of war.
Anshel Pfeffer has been watching the long-term prime minister – whom many call “Bibi” – for many years. He is a journalist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and has written an unauthorized biography of Netanyahu.
Financing Hamas
Critics accuse Bibi of having supported the terrorist organization Hamas in the past. One of the most serious allegations: Netanyahu is said to have indirectly strengthened Hamas from 2018 onwards by supporting the financing of Hamas by its close ally Qatar.
Netanyahu bought himself peace and hoped that Hamas would no longer carry out attacks on Israel, says Anshel Pfeffer. At the same time, he was interested in a strong Hamas so that it could become a powerful opponent of the enemy Fatah in the West Bank.
“Netanyahu could say: How can I negotiate with the Palestinians when they themselves are divided?” says Anshel Pfeffer. Netanyahu did not want to make concessions to the Palestinians. The division of the Palestinians – between Fatah and Hamas – was in his interest.
In public, Bibi repeatedly said that he wanted to destroy Hamas. “But privately he said that it was okay to have Hamas in Gaza,” said Pfeffer.
Suitcase full of money
Companions confirm the millions of dollars that were brought into the Gaza Strip in suitcases. Among them was the interim Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. He was an ally of Netanyahu for many years.
«I stopped the cash cases because I believe that allowing Hamas to have all this cash is a terrible mistake. Why should we feed them cash so they can kill us?” Bennett said in an interview with CNN.
Polarization of Israel
Netanyahu’s policies are polarizing. As early as the 1990s, he had raised the mood against the Oslo Agreement and rhetorically attacked the then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Many Israelis therefore blamed him for the fact that an Israeli right-wing extremist shot Rabin at a peace rally in 1995.
Netanyahu did not invent divisions in Israeli society, says biographer Anshel Pfeffer. “But he exploited, deepened and manipulated these divisions. We now see the polarized, very divided nature of Israeli society. And that is largely Netanyahu’s doing.”
What next with Bibi?
Anshel Pfeffer believes there could be new elections in the near future. But Netanyahu shouldn’t be written off yet. “Netanyahu campaigns like others eat breakfast. It will be difficult for him, but he will fight.” Bibi is like a machine – tireless.