At least it is now clear: Benjamin Netanyahu has a strategy for the war in Gaza, and it commits his country to indefinite conflict. That seems the only logical conclusion to draw from the TV interview Israel’s prime minister gave to the Israeli Channel 14 on Sunday, which was as worrying as it was clarifying.
In his first sit-down with domestic media since Hamas carried out its terrorist assault more than eight months ago, Netanyahu rejected the terms of a United States-mediated and United Nations Security Council-approved cease-fire proposal for Gaza and said he was prepared to open a second front against Hezbollah, in Lebanon.
None of this is to deny that Israel faces extraordinarily difficult decisions, or to exonerate Hamas from the primary guilt it bears for the disaster it has brought on Gaza’s Palestinians since Oct. 7. Yet it is increasingly difficult to dismiss the claims of critics in Israel, who say Netanyahu needs the war to avoid right-wingers from collapsing his government, leaving him to face a personal reckoning for the security failures. Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, shares this need for the war to continue. He believes — correctly — that it serves his purpose of weakening and ultimately destroying Israel.