LOS ANGELES.–Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 74, often demonized in the liberal press, has regained significant popularity with the Israeli people in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2024 Hamas terrorist attack that killed 1,200 and took another 250 hostages. Netanyahu and his Cabinet were blamed for a colossal intel failure, not recognizing the Hamas plan to commit the worst atrocity on the Jewish State since the Holocaust. Hamas’s 62-year-old Leader Yahya Sinwar planned the attack with his now deceased military chief Mohammed Deif, knowing the massacre would prompt the destruction of the Gaza Strip. Sinwar, who was jailed in Israel for over 20 years, feigned cooperative relations with Israel while he spent over a year plotting the latest massacre hoping to use Iran and other anti-Israel propagandists to justify the massacre as legitimate Palestinian resistance.
Sinwar now finds himself holed up in Hamas’s military tunnels under Gaza, with Gaza’s infrastructure and population all but destroyed. All the vaunted Iranian-backed militias have done nothing to save Sinwar, despite Palestinian pleas around the globe to confront Israel aggression. Sinwar receives much of his military support from Iran, just like Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. But once the Oct. 7, 2023 war started, the late 62-year-old Hamas leader in exile Ismail Haniyeh, begged Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to join the fight against Israel. Khamenei told Haniyeh and Sinwar they were on their own. Netanyahu has been demonized in the U.S. and foreign press for pressing a war that has caused collateral damage to ordinary Palestinians, something Hamas claims has killed over 40,000. No one knows the real figures.
Netanyahu has doggedly pursued his war with Hamas to return the remaining Israeli hostages dead-of-alive, despite the avalanche of Hamas propaganda, exaggerating civilian casualties, prompting demonstrating and rioting around the U.S. and other foreign capitals. Despite all the global pressure, Netanyahu has pressed ahead to end Hamas rule in Gaza, knowing that Hamas and Israel can no longer live side-by-side. President Joe Biden, 81, and his 59-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris, have pressure Netanyahu to enter into a ceasefire deal with Hamas, knowing that it’s not possible to negotiate with terror groups. Kamala said she wants a two-state solution in Gaza, which would reward Hamas for its Oct. 7 genocide, giving them legitimacy by creating a Palestinian state. Israeli citizens have rewarded Netanyahu by backing his post-Oct. 7 policies.
Recent polls published by left-wing Mar’aiv Daily shows Netanyahu’s Likud Party picking up numerous seats if elections were held today, putting Netanyahu firmly in control for the forseeable future. Likud currently holds 32 seats in the 120 seat parliament, joined by Israeli’s ultra-right parties in a governing coalition. With pro-hostage demonstrators taking to the streets in mass demonstrations, it looked like Netanyahu was losing support but clearly with the recent Mar’aiv poll shows the opposite. Netahyahu has always been a trustworthy voice for preserving the Jewish State without acquiescing to pressure from the U.S. and foreign states to compromise with Hamas terrorists. Since Oct. 7, Netanyahu has commanded Israeli Defense Forces [IDF] to confront an existential threat to Israel. Last year showed Likud with only 16 seats, now with a minimum of 24, a significant gain.
Kamala and Joe have failed to apply enough pressure on Hamas to leave the Gaza Strip to allow a new government to take over the Mediterranean territory. Biden and Harris continue to pressure Israel into making a deal with Hamas, knowing it’s a U.S.-labeled terrorist organization that has looted the Gaza Strip for the last 18 years. Biden and Harris have tried to placate Muslim groups necessary to Kamala’s 2024 victory by demanding that Israel enter into a counterproductive deal with Hamas terrorists, allowing Sinwar, mastermind of Oct. 7, to stay in power. How does it help Gaza citizens to allow a terrorist group to run Gaza? No donor state, funding Gaza’s rebuild, can trust Hamas with donor cash, when it’s looted the Gaza Strip for the last 18 years. Biden and Harris lack the moral clarity to do the right thing by allowing Netanyahu to prosecute his war with Hamas.
Netanyahu has all but vanquished his more liberal rivals like former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, no longer in politics or several other Cabinet minister including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gviir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. No politician in Israel other than Netanyahu commands the popularity to lead a workable, governing coalition in the Knesset or Israeli parliament. Israelis see Netanyahu as the strongest, most articulate leader to advance Israeli national security at a time of national peril. Whatever happens to the remaining hostages, Netanyahu must finish the job in Gaza to assure that Hamas never again rules the Gaza Strip. Kamala shows she’s all about politics and not doing what’s right to defend Israeli national security. Forcing Israel into a deal with Hamas is bad U.S. foreign policy, only leading to more war.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
