Why Back Bibi Netanyahu

In October 2023  a query on the character of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu is way past overdue. Not just in Washington, Europe, and Muslim capitals throughout the world but also at home in Israel there is a dawning fear – can Netanyahu pull off a triple political coup – elude several judicial prosecutions while disarming Israeli courts from ever reviewing his Knesset and Cabinet decisions/processes while achieving a Ben-Gurion Zion coup – annexation of all the West Bank with indigenous Palestinians reduced to a subservient state controlled by Israeli government dictates? Israels Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has made this intenetions known in Paris as his Zionist party works to restore Israel from its 2000 year old Roman dismemberment.

Likewise, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician who called for Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination will now be in charge of the national police force, allowing him to protect growing illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Is this the leadership team that Israel needs? Or is Israel and the  Mideast drenched in too much grievance and venegeance intrigue and  thus condemned to lurch through retribution and vengeance minefields of increasingly callous carnage?

The historical record in theMideast for the past 60+ years is littered with pogroms, massacres, and internecine warfare. The list is imposing for its treachery and accumulated death tolls:

1946	Iran crisis of 1946[2][15][e]	Iran  Republic of Mahabad  Azerbaijan People’s Government	2,000
1948–	Arab–Israeli conflict[f]	Egypt  All-Palestine Government  Egypt  United Arab Republic  Syrian Republic  Ba’athist Syria  Jordan  Lebanon  Israel  Palestinian Authority	73,000–84,000
1948	Alwaziri coup[2]	Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen	4,000–5,000
1948	Al-Wathbah uprising	Iraq	300–400
1952	Egyptian revolution of 1952[2]	Egypt	1,000
1953	1953 Iranian coup d’état[2][15][27]	Iran	300–800
1954–1960	Jebel Akhdar War[15]	Muscat and Oman	100–523
1955–1959	Cyprus Emergency[28][29]	Cyprus	400–600
1956	Suez Crisis
1956–1960	Yemeni–Adenese clan violence[2]	Aden	1,000
1958	1958 Lebanon Crisis[2][11][29]	Lebanon	1,300–4,000
1958	1958 Iraqi Revolution[2]	Arab Federation	100
1959	1959 Mosul uprising[2]	Iraqi Republic	2,000–4,000
1962–1970	North Yemen Civil War[30][31][g]	North Yemen  Saudi Arabia  Egypt	100,000–200,000
1962–1975	Dhofar Rebellion[15]	Oman	10,000
1963	1963 Riots in Iran[15]	Iran	100
1963	February 1963 Ba’athist Iraqi coup[32]	Iraq	1,000
1963	8th of March Syrian Revolution[33]	United Arab Republic  Syria	820
1963–1967	Aden Emergency[34]	Federation of South Arabia  South Yemen	2,096
1963	November 1963 Iraqi coup[32]	Iraq	250
1964	1964 Hama riot[35][36]	Syria	70–100
1966	1966 neo-Ba’athist coup d’état in Syria[15]	Syria	400
1966	1966 Arif Abd ar-Razzaq second coup[37]	Iraq	80–100
1970–1971	Black September[29]	Jordan	2,000–25,000
1972	Yemenite War of 1972	South Yemen  North Yemen	100+
1974	Turkish invasion of Cyprus[22][38]	Cyprus	1,500–5,000
1974	Shatt al-Arab clashes[39]	Iran	1,000
1975–1990	Lebanese Civil War[40][h]	Lebanon	150,000
1976–1980	Political violence in Turkey (1976–1980)[41][42][43]	Turkey	5,000–5,388
1978–1982	NDF Rebellion	North Yemen	100+
1978–	Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)[44]	Turkey  Iraqi Kurdistan  Iraq	30,000–100,000
1979	Yemenite War of 1979	South Yemen  North Yemen	1,000+
1979	Iranian Revolution[45][46]	Iran	3,164–60,000
1979–1980	Consolidation of the Iranian Revolution [i]	Iran	10,171
1979–1983	Saudi Eastern Province unrest[47]	Saudi Arabia	182–219
1979	Grand Mosque seizure[48]	Saudi Arabia	307
1979–1982	Islamist uprising in Syria	Syria	40,000+
1980	1980 Turkish coup d’état[49][50]	Turkey	127–550
1980	1980 Sadr uprising[51]	Iraq	1,000–30,000
1980–1988	Iran–Iraq War[22][52][j]	Iran  Iraq  Kuwait	1,000,000–1,250,000
1986	South Yemen Civil War[53]	South Yemen	5,000–12,000
1986	1986 Egyptian Conscription Riot[54]	Egypt	107
1986	1986 Damascus bombings[55]	Syria	204
1987	Iranian pilgrim riot (Mecca massacre)[56]	Saudi Arabia	402
1987–1988	ANO Executions	Lebanon  Syria	170
1989–1996	KDPI insurgency (1989–1996)	Iran	168–503
1990–1991	Gulf War[40]	Iraq  Kuwait  Saudi Arabia	40,000–57,000
1991	1991 Iraqi uprisings[51][57]	Iraq	50,000–100,000
1994	1994 civil war in Yemen	Yemen	7,000–10,000
1995–	Islamic Insurgency in Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	300
1998	Operation Desert Fox[28][29] (Iraqi no-fly zones)	Iraq	2,000
1999	1999 Shia uprising in Iraq[15][58]	Iraq	100–200
2003–2011	Iraq War[59][60][61][62][63][64][k]	Ba’athist Iraq  Iraq	109,032–650,726 See also: Casualties of the Iraq War
2004	Qamishli massacre (2004)[65][66]	Syria	30–100
2004–2014	Shia insurgency in Yemen[67][68][69]	Saudi Arabia  Yemen	8,500–25,000
2004–	Iran–PJAK conflict[70]	Iran	588–747
2006–	Fatah–Hamas conflict[71][72]	Palestinian Authority  Gaza Strip	600+
2006–	Iran–Israel proxy conflict	Iran  Israel	≈2000
2007	Nahr al-Bared fighting	Lebanon	480
2008	2008 Lebanon conflict	Lebanon	105
2009–2015	South Yemen Insurgency[73]	Yemen	2,100+
2010–2015	Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown[74][75]	Yemen	3,000+
2011	2011 Bahraini uprising	Bahrain  Saudi Arabia	100+
2011–	Shia insurgency in Bahrain	Bahrain	22+
2011–2014	Egyptian crisis (2011–14)[m]	Egypt	7,000+
2011–	Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)	Yemen	9,000+
2011–	Syrian Civil War[n]	Syria	503,064–613,407 +
2011–2017	Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon	Lebanon	≈800
2011–	Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict	Saudi Arabia  Iran
2013–2017	War in Iraq (2013–2017)[n]	Iraq	155,500–165,500+
2015–	Yemeni Civil War Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen	Yemen  Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates	377,000+
2016–	Western Iran clashes	Iran	74–156
15-16 July 2016	2016 Turkish coup d’état attempt	Turkey	270–350
2017	2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict	Iraq	+305
2017–	Iraqi insurgency (2017–present)	Iraq	5,000+

The Wikipedia list above omits the sectarian conflicts in Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Chechnya, yet the turmoil in the past 50 years has been increasingly brutal with Israel, Iran, and Saudi Arabia as major players. However,  despite the substantial Muslim majority throughout the region, there  are complexions to the political alliances. The diferences in ethnic background [Arab,Israeli, Kurdissh, Iranian,Turkish] and Muslim religious affiliation [Sunni, Shia the two major sects but Sufi, Alawite, Druze being important minority sects] all these divergent complexions and their allegiances literally shape  many current Mideastern conflicts in unexpected directions.

A good example of strange machinations is in the Brooking’s  review – Iran’s revolution, 40 years on: Israel’s reverse periphery doctrine describing how the 1979 Iran Revolution turned relations topsy turvey between Iran and Israel:
“The revolution upended these relations dramatically. Not only were ties cut off, but Israel was relegated by Ayatollah Khomeini to the status of “Little Satan”  For the new Iranian regime, Israel became a central focus of ideological and religious vitriol. The Islamic Republic became a central backer of any Arab resistance to Israel. Iran seemingly became more Palestinian than the Palestinians. It opposed all peace negotiations between Arabs and Israelis, including the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Oslo Accords of 1993.”

Of interest has been the Iranian and Israeli roles in the Syrian Civil War which has had more than 550,000 casualties. Iran and Russia supported the Assad Regime while Saudi Arabia and Qatar supported the Syrian Rebels while Turkey and Israel flipped between support for the Rebels and then the Assad government. Clearly, the Syrian conflict shows the labyrinthine antagonisms among Israel and the various Muslim Players in the Mid East. .And in ensuing negotiations between Arabs  and Muslim sects, Benjamin Netanyahu has been a  most nafarious player

Benjamin Netanyahu: Native-born Zionist
Known as  Ben Nitai in his many stays in the US, Benjamin Netanyahu lived in Philadelphia until 1967 when he returned to join the Israeli Special Forces where he served in several missions and became a captain. This miltary career helped him to rise in 1990-1995 to prominence in Israeli political circles. During this period he earned 3 degrees at MIT and Harvard while joining the prestigious Boston Consulting Group. In Israel, Netanyahu gained influential positions as Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister during the crucial 1993-1995 signing of the Oslo Accords and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin along with the prospects of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Benjamin Netanyahu played a pivotal role as an astute naysayer for any accommodation with Palestinians.

During the negotiation of the Oslo Accords Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin was a key voice in favor of reaching a realistic accommodation with Palestine . All during the process, Likud party  leader Netanyahu  was a constant and vocal critic of the Accords while working behind the scenes to enhance Hamas  vs the PLO in the West Bank. The aim was to show that the Palestinians were too divisive so they could not be trusted as a stable state neighbour.

Even more dangerous Netanyahu  “ignored” the many demonstrations of hard rightists who openly called for the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Within days on November 4, 1995,  Yitzhak was shot dead by Yagil Amir who during his interrogation after the deed asked for “a schnapps to celebrate Rabin’s death.”.After Rabin’s assassination, Benjamin Netanyahu won the Premiership but backpedaled on any substantive negotiations on a Palestinean settlement as envisaged by Rabin and Shimon Pires. Rather he worked behind the scenes to allow Hamas to receive financial aid from Qatar. A constant aim was to promote  Hamas over PLO  as this delayed any meaningful Peace talks.

In 1999 Netanyahu lost the election to Ehud Barack and spent the next 5 years in private business and then as Finance Minister where his reforms to the economy brought a spurt of prosperity and raised demand for settlement in WestBank.

In his second term as Premier, Netanyahu concentrated in 2009 to 2014 on two roles – defusing American and European calls for progress in Peace negotiations while reforming taxes which allowed more control on Palestinians as well as aiding illegal Israeli settler investments within the West Bank. But the bulk of the term was spent securing military favors from the US including Iron Dome protection of Israeli airspace, and support for Jonathan Pollard [ the US engineer who sold military trade secrets to Israel.  and pushing for continued multi-billion US military funding. But by 2019, Netanyahu was involved in so many nefarious affairs, that Israeli prosecutors were closing in on Natenyahu’s “misdemeanors”.

Bibi’s  Misdemeanors

By 2019 Bibi’s risky behaviour became so dangerous that he lost the premiership. But within a year, Netanyahu was back in office by making a move to the hard right including open support for West Bank Annexation, increased power of review of the Israeli Judiciary, and dealing with the ever more serious demands of American, European, and UN agencies on controlling Israeli settlers. But Netanyahu and his Settler cabinet would not tolerate any slowdown in the move to full Zionism with Israel as master of all Judea.

1. Corruption charges: Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 on charges of fraud, breach of trust, and bribery in three separate cases. The allegations involve him receiving gifts, engaging in discussions to promote common interests with media mogul Arnon Mozes, and having a reciprocal arrangement with Shaul Elovitch, the head of Israel’s largest telecommunications company. His trial began in 2020 and is still ongoing.
2. Influence peddling: During his first term in office in the 1990s, Netanyahu was suspected of appointing a crony as attorney general in exchange for political support from the ultra-religious Shas party.
3. Misuse of funds: In 2016, a state expense report revealed that Netanyahu spent over $600,000 of public funds on a six-day trip to New York, including $1,600 on a personal hairdresser. His wife, Sara, was also suspected of using taxpayers’ money to pay for her late father’s care while he was living at the official Jerusalem residence.
4. Erosion of democracy: Critics argue that Netanyahu’s leadership has eroded Israel’s democracy, as he has aligned himself with right-wing populist leaders around the world and has been involved in efforts to weaken the country’s judiciary.
5. The stalled peace process with Palestinians: Netanyahu has not made any progress in the peace process with the Palestinians, focusing on maintaining the current state of affairs, which has worsened over time. Critics argue that he has done little to reshape the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has instead entangled Israel and the West Bank further in divisive conflicts..
6. Partisan politics in the US: Netanyahu’s handling of the Palestinian issue and his closeness to former President Donald Trump have contributed to the erosion of longstanding bipartisan support for Israel in the US.

Given the litany of domestic and broader international missteps, one wonders whether Joe Biden has made a bad bet on Iran’s Small Satan. Will Netanyahu’s  Zionist aspiration for the return of all Judea to Israeli control spark a broader international conflict?  Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, and Jordan are all faced with perilous decisions. By giving Israel double military aid, by supporting unqualified self defense including for recovering Israeli hostages, has Joe Bidnen sanctioned wiping out Hamas and in the process pulverizing Gaza making it uninhabitable and thrusting a million Palestinian refugee problem on Egypt, Jordan and other nearby Arab States? By saying “Don’t” has Joe Biden really prevented very bad bets by Netanyahu, Hezbollah, Iran, Egypt and other “players”. Biden need only take a look at what grievances, vengeance, and retribution have done in the US Congress for how things can go “unprecedentedly wrong ” in climactic moments.

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