Likud’s global war against everyone

Leading figures of the Israeli far right have made striking statements in recent days. I firmly believe that if anyone other than an Israeli had made them, the scales of judgment would have been brought down immediately and threats of doom and severe consequences would have followed. But it seems that what is forbidden for others is permissible for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Katz, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and their ilk. Treated as if they are beyond reproach, these people are never wrong, never challenged and never questioned about their intentions.

Meanwhile, questions about the meaning of Israel’s deadly military actions in southern Lebanon continue to grow, as do questions about whether they reflect a genuine rift between Washington and Tel Aviv or whether Israel’s right-wing leadership has chosen to sabotage any possible American-Iranian understanding of its own initiative.

In reality, it should no longer surprise anyone that the current Israeli government is rejecting any serious step toward peace. It is essentially a coalition of extremists who do not believe that an Arab people, particularly a Palestinian people, exists. And even if such people exist, they believe it has no rights to its land. Moreover, the regional accords reached by the Likud government are today seen as temporary breathing space before future conflicts. This pause is useful while Israel “digests” the territories it has occupied in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, before extending further toward Egypt and Turkiye.

In recent days, while waiting for attacks on Lebanese territory to stop, and amid the inability of authorities in Beirut even to persuade the American “mediator” to stop the fighting, we saw examples of Israel’s approach to Lebanon and the region. Here are some examples.

It should no longer surprise anyone that the current Israeli government is rejecting any serious step toward peace

Eyad Abu Shakra

Netanyahu personally reaffirmed Likud’s view of an impossible peace: “The people of Israel have returned to Israel, and the people of Israel will remain here forever. Because this is our land. It is ours. We have returned to the place from which we came and to the path our ancestors walked.” Netanyahu, in reality, comes from a Polish family.

Commenting on the destruction currently taking place in Lebanon, Katz, Netanyahu's defense minister, said: “We have flattened the entire first line of villages in southern Lebanon, all the houses have been destroyed. The residents (about 200,000 people who have been displaced) will never see them standing ever again.”

In somewhat more diplomatic language, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar stated: “Many Western media outlets portray Israel as a kind of colonial project, as if we were not the indigenous people of this land — a people who have been here for more than 3,000 years and have maintained a continuous presence here throughout history.” Saar’s father was of Ukrainian-Moldovan origin and immigrated to Israel via Argentina during the 1960s, while his mother came from Bukharan Jewish roots in what is now Uzbekistan.

However, these statements pale beside the contributions of the two most far-right ministers, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.

Speaking about Gaza, Finance Minister Smotrich reportedly boasted: “We control between 60 percent and 70 percent of the Gaza Strip and are destroying its entire infrastructure; everyone knows what this means. Gaza will be left in ruins and the inhabitants will have to migrate because there will be nowhere to live there for the coming decades.”

There is little room left for rational discussion while such mindsets and exclusionary cultures remain dominant

Eyad Abu Shakra

As for Lebanon, Ben-Gvir contributed in his characteristic style: “For every teardrop of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers need to cry. Our supreme duty is to protect Israeli citizens and soldiers, and that duty comes before all other considerations … Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining. All of Lebanon must burn.”

Faced with this collection of statements about coexistence and good neighborly relations “Likud-style,” there seems to be little room left for rational discussion about the prospects for peace while such mindsets and exclusionary political cultures remain dominant.

Naturally, there is both regional and international interest in containing this destructive hubris. The concern extends beyond the economic, political and military consequences of continued instability in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf region. Two issues have been pushed into the background by the focus on the conflict with Iran.

The first concerns what we hope the administration of President Donald Trump is beginning to recognize: the danger of Israel dragging Washington and the wider world into wars that serve Israeli objectives. Just listen to Netanyahu’s remarks about potential future conflicts involving Egypt and Turkiye after Syria.

The second issue is the influence of Israel and its political, media, technological and financial lobbies over global affairs and its silencing of opposition through accusations of antisemitism, ultimately pressuring critics into compliance.

• Eyad Abu Shakra is managing editor of Asharq Al-Awsat, where this article was originally published.

X: @eyad1949