One of the items on the Israeli government's agenda was to name the war on Gaza that Israel has been waging in Gaza for more than 11 weeks.

This will be Netanyahu's second attempt in this regard. In the first week of the war, the Israeli Prime Minister, for reasons known only to him, called it the “War of the Iron Swords.” The name was printed on official statements, but it was not widespread among the Israeli public. Even Netanyahu's ministers and Israeli army generals rarely used this term. This time, Netanyahu preferred to call it the “Genesis War” (derived from the biblical “Book of Genesis”).

It is, of course, an exercise in futility for politicians to try to name a war, says the British newspaper The Times, which says: “Netanyahu, the son of a historian, should realize that wars usually acquire their name over time, through popular culture, media usage, and finally the judgment of history".

Netanyahu gives a misleading name to the war on Gaza

But Netanyahu is keen to frame the narrative of what is happening in Gaza for his own political purposes, and the “Genesis War” conjures an epic event that has nothing to do with anything that came before it. It is an attempt to convince the Israeli public that the sudden Hamas attack on October 7 has nothing to do with his policies and management of Israel’s affairs during the long years that preceded the attack while he was prime minister.

These attempts have failed so far. In almost every poll and survey conducted since the war began, an overwhelming majority of the Israeli public has responded that it sees Netanyahu responsible and believes he should resign, either immediately or once the war is over. A clear majority of Israelis also want early elections.

Netanyahu would lose the elections if they were held today

If the elections were held today, most opinion polls predict that the Likud Party would lose about half the votes it received just one year ago, and that Benny Gantz, the former defense minister who joined the mini-war government that was formed days after the war began, would achieve a comfortable victory and become Next Prime Minister of Israel.

Netanyahu was in a difficult political position even before the war began. Due to corruption indictments and a lawsuit against him, in which he faces the possibility of ten years in prison, the centrist parties in the Knesset refused to join a government coalition under his leadership.

In June 2021, he lost power and remained in the opposition for a year and a half until he regained power at the end of 2022 in the fifth Israeli elections in four years.

Although his coalition of far-right and ultra-religious parties finally won a majority, Netanyahu struggled to control his new government, and was unpopular at the national level. Throughout the year, Israelis protested his government's controversial "judicial reform" program, which sought to weaken the independence of the Supreme Court.

He lacks a majority and distances himself from military decisions

Netanyahu now heads the war government, but he lacks a numerical majority in it. In addition to Gantz, the government includes current Defense Minister Yoav Galant, a member of the Likud Party who has distanced himself from his party's leader since last March, when Netanyahu tried to dismiss him after criticizing the government's controversial plan to reform the Israeli judicial system. And Gadi Eisenkot, a political ally of Gantz. All three were former senior army generals, unlike Netanyahu, who only reached the rank of captain. His only ally in the war cabinet, Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, moved to Israel only as an adult and with no military experience.

A senior ministerial aide said: “Most of the decisions in the war government are made by the three former generals, and Netanyahu is waiting to make his decision until he sees which way the wind is blowing. He is not involved in most of the day-to-day military decisions, and needs a lot of convincing before he signs on the biggest decisions.” 

He spends his time in propaganda and trying to absolve himself of negligence in the face of the Al-Aqsa flood

But that doesn't mean he's not busy. He spent long hours during the war in meetings with political advisers and sympathetic journalists, and at photo ops with world leaders and visiting celebrities like Elon Musk.

There were also carefully designed visits to troops in the field, whether to young recruits who had to hold their tongues, or on rare occasions to well-screened reserve forces.

However, at the beginning of the war there were a few incidents in which reserve soldiers harassed the Prime Minister and demanded that he resign.

In the coming days and weeks, the Israeli government will have to make a series of decisions that will determine the future of the war and its aftermath. Netanyahu will not be alone in taking it, but he will be strongly involved in the process since it will have political repercussions.

Netanyahu must make a decision to reduce the ground offensive

The most urgent decision is the timing of reducing the ground offensive in Gaza. While the Israeli government is not expected to agree to a ceasefire, the war will take a different form now that most of Hamas' strongholds in Gaza City have been destroyed and the Israeli army has occupied most of Khan Yunis, the second largest city in the Gaza Strip.

However, Hamas as a military force has not been defeated, as thousands of its fighters are still hiding in tunnels or have disappeared among the civilian population. The Israeli army believes it will take several more months to eliminate them, but the campaign will be more mobile, with smaller units deployed than the current full divisions.

And conclude a temporary truce

Another major decision will be whether or not to agree to another temporary truce with Hamas to allow for an agreement to release the hostages. There are still 120 Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. Hamas demands a comprehensive ceasefire as a condition for the talks. Although the government views the previous week-long truce as a success after Hamas released 110 hostages, the war cabinet was originally divided over whether to allow Hamas some breathing room. Netanyahu hesitated and did not take sides.

“The hostage agreement could have been concluded weeks earlier if Netanyahu had not been so hesitant,” said a security official advising the government. “It cost valuable time.” With Hamas expected to push a harder deal this time, and the hostage situation turning desperate, the dilemmas will be more severe.

And expanding the aid allowed into Gaza

The government will also have to decide whether to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza for the more than two million people there, most of whom have been displaced by the fighting. Any such decision will lead to the division of the entire government. However, Netanyahu is also under intense pressure from Israel's main ally, the Biden administration, to make an effort to allow more aid to Gaza residents.

American pressure plays a major role in shaping Israel's strategy for the days that follow the war in Gaza. President Biden's stated policy envisions the Palestinian Authority assuming control of Gaza. Netanyahu has repeatedly opposed that plan, but this appears to be primarily a ploy to bolster his flagging nationalist base rather than a true final position.

He wants to create a subordinate Palestinian authority in Gaza, but the Americans refuse to do so

Last week, Netanyahu's national security advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi, published an opinion article on the London-based Arabic website Elaph, saying that there will be a need for a moderate Palestinian ruling body that enjoys broad support and popularity. He added: "In its current form, the (Palestinian) Authority finds it difficult to do this, and it will require great effort and assistance from the international community as well as from the countries of the region, and we are ready for this effort."

Hanegbi would not have written this without his boss's approval.

The Israeli prime minister appears stuck: the far-right parties that keep him in power are threatening to topple the government if the scope of the war is reduced and the Palestinian Authority is allowed to return to Gaza. However, Israel needs continued American support, and the more pragmatic Gantz may also leave the war cabinet if he believes that politics are guiding Netanyahu's decisions, and join calls for early elections.

Whatever Netanyahu does next, it will determine not only how the nameless war will proceed, but also his immediate political fate, his legacy at home and on the international stage, and perhaps his freedom.