Finian Cunningham: Clock ticking for Netanyahu over hostages

The Israeli public mood is turning decisively against the rule of Benjamin Netanyahu following the recovery of six dead hostages.

Israel claims the hostages were shot execution-style by Hamas fighters as their troops closed to rescue them. Hamas says they were killed by Israeli bombardments. Israeli media report that autopsies show bullet wounds. But given the torrent of lies put out by Israeli authorities about the Gaza violence one may never know.

For the Israeli public, those grim details don’t seem to matter now. The anger is because the hostages could have been spared if Netanyahu engaged in ceasefire talks to prioritize the rescue of captives.

After 11 months of genocidal war on Gaza and the West Bank, Israeli exasperation with Netanyahu’s failure to get hostages home has reached boiling point.

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At the weekend, Tel Aviv and other cities saw their largest protests against Netanyahu’s uncompromising policy of “defeating Hamas”. The country’s biggest labor union has called for a general strike to force an immediate ceasefire in order to secure the release of nearly 100 hostages.

“We getting body bags instead of a [ceasefire] deal,” said Arnon Bar-David, the head of Israel’s trade union Histadrut as up to 500,000 protesters closed down transport routes into Tel Aviv and other cities Sunday.

Private businesses and public services are also voicing support for a state-wide walk-out. Israel’s economy is on the verge of collapse from the nearly year-long war on Gaza and neighboring countries.

Angry families of hostages and a large public support movement accused Netanyahu of “playing Russian roulette” with the lives of those held captive in Gaza by Palestinian resistance Hamas.

There is a growing realization that Netanyahu’s obsession with destroying Hamas is futile and is endangering the remaining hostages

Driving up the public fury are reports that the six latest hostages could have been released weeks ago if Netanyahu had accepted a ceasefire deal that Hamas had agreed to. The Israeli prime minister is accused of sabotaging a truce brokered by Egypt and Qatar because he insisted on keeping military control of the Egyptian-Gaza border area known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

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When Hamas launched its offensive on October 7 and took some 250 Israeli hostages, there was widespread public support for Netanyahu’s devastating retaliation against Gaza. But the Israeli public has grown increasingly disillusioned with Netanyahu’s failure to rescue the captives, who are held deep in a warren of Hamas tunnels.

Netanyahu’s declared “war on Hamas” has been a catastrophe. Nearly a year of constant bombardment, ground invasion and a barbaric siege on 2.3 million Gazans has produced neither the defeat of Hamas nor the release of hostages.

Out of 250 captives initially taken, the Israeli military has managed to rescue just eight of its citizens alive. Some 40 are believed to have been killed by the indiscriminate Israeli air strikes. This compares with over 40,000 Palestinians who have been killed – 70 percent of whom are estimated to be women and children.

Previously, three Israeli male hostages were shot dead by Israeli soldiers apparently by mistake.

Some 105 hostages were released by Hamas in November as part of a negotiated prisoner swap.

That leaves 97 Israelis still unaccounted for in Gaza.

For the Israeli public, the conclusion is: that negotiations work if securing the lives of hostages is the priority.

Hamas says all captives will be released on condition of a full ceasefire and complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Netanyahu refuses to commit to a definite end to hostilities and wants to maintain security control of the Egypt-Gaza border. His intransigence is evidently the deal-breaker.

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The U.S. administration of President Joe Biden claims to be pushing for a negotiated ceasefire. But the non-stop supply of American weapons to Israel (50,000 tons since October 7) and repeated vows of “unwavering support” for “Israel’s self-defense” by Biden and the Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris as well as the Republican rival Donald Trump all mean that Netanyahu feels he can keep waging war with impunity. In short, Washington is complicit in creating and prolonging the bloodbath.

However, time is running out for the embattled Netanyahu. Even hardline members of his security cabinet are becoming vexed by the lack of success in winning the so-called war and freeing the hostages. There is a growing realization that Netanyahu’s obsession with destroying Hamas is futile and is endangering the remaining hostages.

Yoav Gallant, the hardline defense minister who notoriously called Palestinians “animals”, has reportedly clashed with Netanyahu in shouting matches.

Gallant accused his boss of jeopardizing the lives of captive Israelis by sabotaging any ceasefire agreement. On Sunday, he said, “prioritizing the Philadelphi Corridor at the cost of the lives of hostages is a serious moral disgrace”.

It is a sign of how unhinged Netanyahu has become whenever the self-proclaimed genocidal Gallant tells him he is a “moral disgrace”.

The Israeli public is angry and disgusted by the perception that Netanyahu is running this disastrous war with absolutely no concern for the lives of his citizens. He has become the enemy within.

The massive protests this week are seen as a turning point. They seem to have reached critical mass in determination to bring Netanyahu’s regime down. Chants of “murderer” and “ceasefire now” have grown to a resounding level that threatens his grip on power.

It is becoming blatantly obvious that Netanyahu is prolonging the genocide in Gaza and escalating it against the West Bank for the naked purpose of trying to stay in office and avoid long-running prosecution cases for corruption. He is gunning for a regional war for the same end.

Sacrificing the lives of others is the only way Netanyahu is purchasing his political survival.

The Israeli public has finally had enough of the ghoulish ritual in which their own people are being callously sacrificed.

This week has seen Tel Aviv and international airports in Israel under siege from a furious population. The Israeli economy has already been severely damaged by the huge costs of military mobilization. The protests are aiming to bring the entire state to a grinding halt which would not be hard to do given the parlous state of the economy.

Ironically, while Netanyahu and his American patrons have been alarmed by an imminent attack from Iran or Hezbollah on Israel, the final blow for Netanyahu could well be delivered from his own people.

The author is former editor and writer for major news media organizations. He has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. Originally published in Strategic Culture Foundation.