Netanyahu Will Only Leave Gaza When Forced by Washington: Middle East Scholar
Israeli leader knows that the IDF will not be able to rescue the 135 hostages militarily, the scholar says
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his war campaign in Gaza — which has been called genocide by human rights advocates — will only end when every last member of Hamas either surrenders or is killed, and every single remaining Israeli hostage is handed over. (There are about 135 hostages.)
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But the end of the war will mean the end of Netanyahu’s political career, which raises the question: why would Netanyahu, who faces corruption charges, which could put him away for years, ever stop the fight?
Dr. Assaf David, director of Israel in the Middle East program at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and professor at the Hebrew University, told Middle East Eye that “Bibi does and will do everything to survive, and in his thinking, anything that is interpreted as a concession to Hamas will complicate his life even more than it already is.”
“He is in trouble with the left, the center, and then he will be in trouble with the right. He won’t let that happen,” he said. He told the outlet that Netanyahu will only leave Gaza when he is forced to by Washington.
He also said the claim that Israel will be able to rescue 135 hostages is foolish and cited how Israel had to release 1,000 Palestinian hostages in 2006 for the return of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier.