Israeli opinion: Netanyahu must go before he causes further irreparable damage to Israel

Prime Minister Netanyahu is accused of betraying his oath of office, and his series of incidents and acts of corruption make him a dangerous liability for Israel. He must leave office now before he does more irreparable damage, as well as the greatest tragedy Israel has ever suffered under his rule.

Regardless of how the war between Israel and Hamas ends, no one in Israel should ever forget how, during his rule of nearly fifteen consecutive years, Netanyahu pushed Israel to the brink of the abyss. Despite its miraculous achievements since its founding in 1948, Israel today has hit rock bottom, and no one has contributed more to its current darkest chapters than Netanyahu. It is unfortunate that Netanyahu, who could have emerged as one of Israel's greatest leaders on a par with Prime Ministers David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Rabin, squandered his impressive early achievements in the areas of economics and national security. His ideological leanings against the Palestinians, his lack of innate, inherited honesty and his insatiable hunger for power have blinded him to the point where he is no longer able to understand what is best for the country, and instead places his own self-interest above that of the nation.

Netanyahu's series of disastrous policies and personal behavior is long and very disturbing. Given the current situation in Israel, his continued leadership may lead the country down an even darker alley, from which it will be unable to emerge without sustaining irreparable damage to its future, while Netanyahu betrays the true reason Israel exists. Netanyahu is accused of the scandalous political and immoral behavior described in the points below, for which he must be held accountable:

Forming the most extreme government,,
In December 2022, Netanyahu formed the most extreme right-wing Messianic government in Israeli history. This government hastened the isolation of Israel from its allies, as it harassed and forced many Palestinians from their lands, polarized the Israeli public, increased the threat of its enemies, weakened its preparation for national security, and attempted to strip the judiciary of its powers to save his skin from the three criminal charges against him. The government includes a number of ministers with criminal records, including Ben Gvir and Deri, whose behavior and policies have harmed Israel more than any other minister in Israeli history.

Subjugate the justice,
Since the first day Netanyahu formed his current government, he has poured every ounce of his energy into “judicial reform,” a law to subordinate the Supreme Court to elected politicians, especially allowing them to appoint judges. The judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, is the guardian of democracy in Israel and without it the government can do whatever it pleases without accountability, which in effect means the end of democracy and the beginning of the tyranny it so vigorously sought. So far, Netanyahu has succeeded in passing the reasonableness clause that prevents the Supreme Court from overturning any government policy deemed unreasonable.

Harmful to national security,
To justify the continued occupation, Netanyahu has systematically portrayed the Palestinians as an implacable enemy who poses an existential threat to Israel. He has masterfully brainwashed Israelis into believing that only by perpetuating the occupation can Israeli national security be protected. To achieve this end, he needed to keep the Palestinians as an eternal enemy to justify the occupation, when in reality Israel would have been much safer had it ended. He convinced Trump to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement, allowing Tehran to approach the nuclear threshold, putting Israel's security at risk more than ever before.

Attracting Israelis,
To serve his political agenda, Netanyahu has courted right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties while widening the divide between secular and Haredi Israelis, intensifying distrust between Israeli Jews and Arabs, increasing discrimination against Sephardic/Mizrahi Jews, and widening the divide between political parties while offering preferential treatment to loyalists and cronies. To be sure, the Israeli public has never been as divided between different political leanings and ethnic backgrounds as it was under Netanyahu's leadership.

Building and expanding settlements,,
Netanyahu has focused on building and expanding existing settlements and legitimizing illegal settlements to serve his plan to annex a large part of the West Bank and drive another nail into the coffin of the two-state solution. It allows settlers to harass Palestinians and confiscate their farmland and allocates hundreds of millions to protect settlers while leaving poor communities inside Israel to rot. For Netanyahu, settlers represent the first line of defense and a central means of preventing Palestinians from returning to their lands.

Intensification of anti-Semitism,,
Although anti-Semitism has been around since time immemorial, Netanyahu's brutal treatment of Palestinians over the years in the West Bank has contributed significantly to the rise of anti-Semitism in recent years, especially in the wake of the war between Israel and Gaza. Administrative detention of Palestinians, home demolitions, widespread night raids, and the use of disproportionate force to suppress violent resistance, while the whole world watches, have contributed sharply to the rise in anti-Semitism. Only a fool would assume that Netanyahu's policies in the West Bank have not helped the rise in anti-Semitism plaguing Jews around the world.

Alienating the United States,
No Israeli prime minister has ever antagonized successive US administrations more than Netanyahu. Given the United States' unwavering commitment to Israel's national security, its unwavering political support, and its significant military and financial aid, it is shocking how Netanyahu dares to challenge the United States and its policy, especially in dealing with the Iranian nuclear program. He frequently interfered in US domestic politics while publicly siding with the Republican Party, siding with evangelical Christians and displeasing Democratic presidents. He found an exact copy of himself in the deranged and morally corrupt Trump who abandoned the American values that constitute the cornerstone of bilateral relations between the United States and Israel. The Hebrew word “chutzpah” (which roughly translates to impudent audacity) applies more to Netanyahu than to anyone else, especially in relation to the United States. Earlier this year, Netanyahu declared that “Israel is a sovereign state and makes its decisions based on the will of its people and not based on pressure from outside, including from best friends,” which represents the height of shameless audacity (“chutzpah”).

Strengthening the power of Hamas,
Netanyahu's policy of pitting Hamas against the Palestinian Authority, and vice versa, was a very dangerous strategy. He allowed hundreds of millions of dollars to be transferred from Qatar to Hamas because he deliberately wanted to strengthen the movement and weaken the Palestinian Authority to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. He told Likud lawmakers in 2019 that “everyone who opposes a Palestinian state should be so,” that is, alongside Qatar’s funding of Hamas. His tragic mis-assessment of Hamas' capabilities and intentions, believing that the Palestinian Authority is an obstacle and Hamas a source of strength, and his misplaced confidence that he has full control of Gaza and that Hamas is incapable of carrying out a large-scale attack against Israel, were tragically negligent, especially in light of the numerous warnings he had made. Launched by IDF observation soldiers. Netanyahu's intense preoccupation with “judicial reforms,” the criminal charges against him, and his reassignment of some of the Israeli forces charged with protecting Israeli communities bordering Gaza to the West Bank, enabled Hamas to commit its atrocities against Israelis, for which Netanyahu has never apologized.

Manipulating the political scene,
No Israeli leader has manipulated the political landscape as deftly to remain in power as Netanyahu. He regularly colludes with political leaders from within or outside his government to advance his political interests. He often goes back on promises he makes, even to his coalition partners, just to continue his plans to stay in power. Like a despot, he controls the national agenda so that nothing can override him. He uses all parliamentary tricks to get his way while allegedly following orders from his wife Sarah on how to sideline his political rivals and punish his opponents. Yes, political manipulation and Netanyahu have become synonymous.

Alienation of the Jews of the world,,
Although Israel was created to embrace Jews from every corner of the world and provide a homeland and refuge for any Jew to live freely in peace and security regardless of his political leanings, religious affiliation, or country of origin, Netanyahu betrayed all of that. His policy of siding with rabbinic institutions to prevent women from praying at the Wailing Wall, his brutal treatment of Palestinians, and the imposition of religious laws on secular/Reform Jews greatly alienated world Jewry. The mutually complementary relationship between Israel and world Jewry has deteriorated under Netanyahu's leadership to a level unprecedented since Israel's creation.

Corruption,,
Netanyahu's political and personal corruption is his defining characteristic. He still faces numerous corruption charges, including bribery, fraud and breach of trust, raising serious questions about the ethics and credibility of his leadership. He made great efforts, at least in part, to “reform” the judiciary to extricate himself from the criminal charges against him. Netanyahu often acts like a mafia boss and orders his killers to do his dirty work. He rewards his loyal friends generously and is never shy about excluding anyone who disagrees with him. His quirk is common, and very few people take his word for granted. Netanyahu's misleading statements and lies have become his trademark.

Challenge the international community,,
Under Netanyahu, Israel has consistently opposed international efforts to recognize a Palestinian state and has defied almost all UN resolutions, whether from the General Assembly or the Security Council, that criticize Israel. Netanyahu has caused tension in Israel's relations with the European community, especially regarding the Israeli occupation. In defiance of the United States, he tried to cozy up to Russia's Putin and refused to provide assistance to Ukraine in its war efforts against Russia. He was able to invite him to China to signal to President Biden that he can always turn to the US adversary. His scruffy behavior on the international stage, moving from one European capital to another, made him look like a second-hand goods salesman trying to outdo his potential clients.

Writing the darkest chapter in Israel's history,,
It is even more sad that Netanyahu, who led Israel for nearly 15 consecutive years and could proudly leave the political scene while leaving behind notable achievements, must now leave office in disgrace. He wrote the darkest chapter in Israel's history by forming his current fascist government that was prepared to destroy Israel's democracy and by causing the collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unprecedented since Israel's creation. The blood of the 1,200 Israelis brutally murdered by Hamas, and the blood of tens of thousands of Palestinian women and children buried under the rubble of Gaza, is on his hands.

Netanyahu has lost his credibility and legitimacy to lead Israel, especially in a time of unparalleled crisis, due to his dereliction of duty, his misguided policies, his self-absorbed personality, and his desperation to cling to power to save himself. He really wants a potential victory against Hamas by claiming that “this is our second war of independence” and “this is the mission of our lives and mine.” And how pathetically self-conceited Netanyahu can be in his efforts to shamefully profit from the greatest disaster Israel has ever seen. ?
I do not agree with those who claim that given the intensifying war against Hamas and the fear of the unknown sweeping the region, this is not the time to force Netanyahu from office. On the contrary, he insisted that this was the right time to force him to resign for all the reasons mentioned above and more. He must be forced from office now to prevent him from manipulating the course of the war or even prolonging it to cover up his fatal mistakes and appear like a “war hero” when he is nothing but a self-absorbed coward and cheater.

If Netanyahu still has a shred of dignity, he should resign before he is forced to leave office in complete disgrace.