BENNY MORRIS: 'Cowardly' Netanyahu Mainly Interested in 'Saving His Own Skin'

Netanyahu has a fragile coalition of extremists who have threatened to dissolve his government if he ever let up in Gaza

Benny Morris, the Israeli historian, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “incompetent” and “cowardly” during an interview on Piers Morgan ‘Uncensored’ released Tuesday night — and said the Israeli leader is mostly interested in staying out of jail.

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“Netanyahu doesn’t really represent the will of most Israelis — probably not even most Israelis at this stage. He’s an incompetent, I think cowardly, immoral leader. He’s a corrupt politician. All he's really interested in — or mainly interested in — is saving his own skin and not going to jail on corruption charges…and staying in control of the premiership… And prolonging the war seems to help him do this.”

Norman Finkelstein, the Middle East author, was the other guest on the show. He disagreed with Morris’s assessment and said Netanyahu represents Israeli society, which is why he continues to maintain power.

“Netanyahu is an obnoxious, narcissistic, Jewish supremacist,” Finkelstein said. “And in that respect, he’s the perfect mirror of Israeli society. When they see Netanyahu, they see themselves.”

Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, bribery, and breach of trust in three cases filed in 2019, known as Case 1000, 2000 and 4000, Al Jazeera reported. The report said bribery charges could carry a sentence of up to 10 years in jail and/or a fine.

Netanyahu has a fragile coalition of extremists who have threatened to dissolve the government if he takes his foot off the gas in Gaza.

Besides the legal problems, Netanyahu was facing massive protests each week before the Hamas invasion in opposition to the judicial overhaul. Netanyahu’s office was forced to deny a report on Channel 13 news that the prime minister floated the idea that the reservists’ strike during his judicial reforms push could have provided Hamas with an opening.

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There have been questions about how much Netanyahu knew before the Hamas attack.

Ben Bartee, a Bangkok-based American journalist, posted on his Substack page that questioned the Western narrative that the attack on Israel was some kind of a massive intelligence failure.

He noted that Israel was divided over Netanyahu’s hardline government and judicial overhaul, which brought the country to the brink of civil war. He wrote that it is his belief that Mossad either knew the attack was looming or “actively facilitated the attack” so Israelis “will rally around the flag for some patriotic Palestinian ass-kicking and their Prime Minister’s imminently obvious corruption will be, at least temporarily, forgotten, if not forgiven.”

ISRAEL’S NUKES

Finkelstein and Morris clashed over Israel’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. Morris, who said he could not confirm the stockpile because Israel never admitted to it, said Israel sought these weapons in the 1950s and 1960s because of the threats from its Arab neighbors. Morris agreed that the Middle East should be a nuclear-free zone, but said Israel would not trust that Iran would uphold its end of the bargain.

Finkelstein called out what he saw as hypocrisy.

“Professor Morris must know that it was through deception, conniving, deceiving, espionage, spying, and all sorts of other things that Israel created its nuclear weapons force,” Finkelstein said.

Mark Levin, the Fox News host, hinted in October that Israel may consider going nuclear during an interview on the cable channel if it finds itself on the losing end of a multi-front war with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. 

The Jewish conservative asked his colleagues what Israel should do since it would be unable to win a conventional war against these militaries. He repeated Ben Shapiro’s comment that Hezbollah has 100,000+ missiles pointed at Israel. Shapiro, who is also Jewish, has been on a war footing calling for Israel to smash Hamas at nearly all costs.   

Levin imagined a scenario where Israel faced defeat: “What are they going to do?” 

“I think I know what they’d do. I know what we [the U.S.] would do, we would destroy the enemy, because otherwise we’re exterminated. That’s all I have to say.”

Levin, who was heated during the interview, said, “If Israel is going to face annihilation, you think they have those nukes in there to collect dust?”

Last March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the world would face a “horrible” nuclear war if Iran manages to develop a nuclear weapon.

Israel’s leader addressed the Iranian people on Thursday night and warned that a nuclear Iran “would change the world.”

Netanyahu said a nuclear-capable Iran would destabilize the region, which would quickly become a region filled with “nuclear tripwires.” He said other countries would rush to match Iran’s capabilities. He addressed those who warned Israel that it would face a war if it intervenes. 

“You will face a war if you don’t,” he said. “A potentially horrible nuclear war if you don’t.”

The UN General Assembly voted in 2022 on a resolution—introduced by Egypt—demanding that Israel destroy its nuclear weapons arsenal, even though Tel Aviv never officially confirmed that it has the weapons.

The resolution was opposed by the U.S., Micronesia, Canada, and Palau, but sponsored by nations that signed on to the Abraham accords, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Jordan, and Bahrain.

The resolution called on Israel to accede to the Treaty without further delay and, in the meantime, not to “develop, produce, test, or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear weapons and to place all its unsafe guarded nuclear facilities under the full scope of Agency safeguards as an important confidence-building measure among all States of the region and as a step toward enhancing peace and security.”

Besides Levin, others have called for Israel to potentially use a nuke.

Amichai Eliyahu, Israel's Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister, said in an interview that a nuclear strike is an option for Gaza since there are no innocent civilians in the impoverished city.