Gaza is not just Netanyahu’s war, but the last battle of Israel’s far right

The Gaza war is not just important to Netanyahu, but also to the very future of Israel’s far-right camp. (Reuters)

"… 69 percent of all Israelis support Netanyahu’s

desperate tactics of assassinations,

including the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh

in Tehran on July 31. "

The idea that the war in Gaza is essentially waged by and sustained by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long dominated political analysis on the subject.

The notion is often kept alive by public opinion inside Israel.

Most polls produced since the start of the Israeli attack on Gaza suggest that an overwhelming majority of Israelis believe that Netanyahu’s decisions are motivated by personal, political, and familial interests.

This conclusion, however, is too convenient and not entirely accurate. It wrongly assumes that the Israeli people oppose Netanyahu’s war in Gaza, though, in reality, they have so far been quite approving of all tactics used by the Israeli army.

For example, more than 300 days into the conflict, 69 percent of all Israelis support Netanyahu’s desperate tactics of assassinations, including the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

While Netanyahu’s decision to target a political leader reflects his failure and desperation, how is one to explain the Israeli people’s enthusiasm for the expansion of the circle of violence?

The answer does not lie in the events of Oct. 7. Indeed, it is time to start thinking beyond the confines of the revenge theory, which has dominated our understanding and analysis of the Israeli assault on Gaza.

For years before the current war, Israel has been moving slowly to the right and far right, with political extremism exceeding that of any generation of the country’s leadership since the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948.

According to an Israeli Democracy Institute poll, published in January 2023, 73 percent of Israeli Jews aged between 18 and 24 identify as “right-wing.”

Considering that the likes of current Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, and Orit Strook are also classified as “right-wing,” one can conclude that the majority of Israeli youth practically identify as right-wing extremists.

It is time to start thinking beyond the confines of the revenge theory.

Dr. Ramzy Baroud

These youth are the core of the Israeli army and the settler movement. They are the ones carrying out the attacks in Gaza, the daily pogroms in the West Bank, and serving as the foot soldiers for the widespread racism campaigns targeting Palestinian Arab communities inside Israel.

There are a good number of analysts who have tried to explain how Israel became a decidedly right-wing society, and how youth, in particular, emerged as the gatekeepers of Israel’s version of suicidal nationalism.

The explanation, however, is straightforward. Israel’s far-right extremism is only a natural evolution of the Zionist ideology, which, in its most “liberal” forms, was always predicated on ethnic hatred, a sense of racial supremacy, and predictable violence.

Although ideological Zionism, in all its manifestations, essentially followed the same trajectory of settler-colonialism and ethnic cleansing, a conflict existed between the various strands of Israeli society.

The so-called liberals — represented by the upper echelons of the military, business circles, and some centrist and leftist political groups — worked to maintain the balance between a colonial, apartheid regime in occupied Palestine, and a selective liberal order that applies only to Jews inside Israel.

The far right had other ideas. For many years, the Israeli right camp, led by Netanyahu, has perceived his ideological enemies inside Israel as traitors for even daring to engage in a “peace process” with the Palestinians — even if that process was a facade, to begin with.

The right wanted to ensure that the territorial contiguity between so-called “Israel proper” and illegal Jewish settlements was not only physical but also ideological. This is how the settlers moved slowly, over the years, from the margins of Israeli politics to the center.

Between April 2019 and November 2022, Israel had five general elections. Though the focus of most remained fixed on Netanyahu’s role in dividing Israeli society, the elections, in reality, were a historic fight among Israel’s ideological groups to determine the future of the country and the direction of Zionism.

In the most recent election, the far-right extremists won, forming the most stable Israeli government in years. While the right was preparing to permanently reconfigure Israel, its political, educational, military and, most important, judicial institutions, Oct. 7 took place.

Initially, the Hamas assault and its aftermath posed a challenge to all segments of Israeli society: the humiliated army, the degraded intelligence, the humbled politicians, the confounded media, and the angry masses.

But the greatest challenge was faced by the far right, which was about to shape the future of Israel for generations. Thus, the Gaza war is not just important to Netanyahu, but also to the very future of Israel’s far-right camp, whose entire political and ideological program has been shattered, most likely beyond salvation.

This should help to explain the obvious contradictions in Israeli society, for example, the mistrust of Netanyahu’s motives, yet trust in the war itself; the widespread criticism of his overall failure, approval of his actions, and so on.

The apparent confusion cannot be explained simply by Netanyahu’s ability to manipulate Israelis. Even if the Israeli right has lost all faith in the prime minister, without him as a unifying figure, all is lost — not only the chances of the far-right camp to redeem itself but also the very future of Zionism.

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and author. He is editor of The Palestine Chronicle and nonresident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappe, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.” X: @RamzyBaroud