End the Reign of Mr. Death!
What We Must Do To Make Sure Netanyahu's Days Are Numbered
Note: This is a blog post I also mean to publish in The Times of Israel. See the link here for other pieces I have written there.
“Mr. Death.” No better name could describe the legacy of Benjamin Netanyahu today.
Death. He started his political career with the blood of Yizhak Rabin on his hands. Death. He championed a deadly strategy of propping up Hamas to undermine the Palestinian Authority. Death. Just months before the Hamas attack of October 7th, he grew “bored” when security officials warned him that his unpopular and undemocratic judicial reforms “eroded Israeli deterrence.”
Death. He was indifferent to the threat until the very moment that Hamas breached the border and killed approximately 1,200 Israelis. Death. Tens of thousands of dead Palestinian civilians. Like 6-year-old Hind Rajab. Like 10-year-old Yazan Kafarneh. Like 14-year-old budding violinist Lubna Elian. And like 39-year-old Abdulrahman Abuamara. Death. Death in Gaza, destruction and displacement in northern Israel. Piles of rubble abroad, fiery infernos at home. Death in the West Bank, and now, the deaths of 6 hostages found in Rafah.
Netanyahu started his political career with blood on his hands, and he may end it with blood on his hands. Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Edun Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi. Say their names. Netanyahu condemned them all to die. He sabotaged the deals. He sabotaged them to hold his radical right-wing coalition together. And maybe—just maybe—he sabotaged them to help Donald Trump win the White House in November. It is treachery that would make 1968 Richard Nixon blush.
Netanyahu has an addiction to death, and he has remade all of Israel in his image. He has turned her into an American weapons junkie, desperate for the adrenaline rush that comes from false promises of “total victory.” Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Edun Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi. Say their names again. Those false promises have a cost. Those costs have piled up each and every day, and they will continue to pile up from now until the end of this war.
That is why Netanyahu must go. Israel must not rest until Mr. Death is gone. If there are 300,000 protesters in the streets of Tel Aviv, there must be 400,000. If there are workers’ strikes, they must be bigger. If Gallant wants to take his stand against Netanyahu, then he must resign from the Cabinet. No more “working within the system.” Everyone needs to apply nothing less than unrelenting pressure ahead of this last stretch of what may be the last ceasefire negotiations.
If we are going to make a stand for life, then we need to end the rule of Mr. Death.