Ahmed Hafez

There have been numerous reports of disagreements between the US administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the war on the Gaza Strip, and what was whispered behind closed doors is now being reported by various media outlets as preparation for the next Israeli government.

American newspapers said that the Biden administration is “looking beyond Netanyahu to achieve its goals in the region,” and that the American administration is trying to lay the foundation with other Israeli leaders in preparation for the formation of a post-Netanyahu government.

The Israeli Walla website also revealed that Defense Minister Yoav Galant tried to storm the Prime Minister's office, and the situation almost deteriorated into a fist fight.

Al Jazeera Net reviewed this issue with a number of experts and political analysts, in order to determine the truth of the American position on the Israeli Prime Minister, especially since Washington is still entrenched behind Israel with all forms of supplies in its aggression against the Gaza Strip.

The American position

Hassan Mneimneh, a professor at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said, “The American position is still fully aligned with the Israeli desire to eliminate the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and this is a consistent position,” and the matter appears to be a matter of differences over method, not over goal.

Mneimneh wondered: Why did the American administration allow Israel to kill more than 25,000 Palestinians? He answers that it arms and finances the Israeli killing machine in Gaza. We must balance the press leaks with the clear record over the past months of the American government in its declared positions, and most importantly its behavior to support the Israeli goal of seeking to eliminate Hamas, or as Netanyahu says, “kill Hamas.”

As for the researcher at the German Robert Bosch Academy, Muhammad Darawsha, he said that the dispute between the two administrations began since US President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel in the second week of the war, and this dispute was about two axes: the first was the day after the war, and the other was related to the Palestinian issue in general, and the issue of the two-state solution.

However, the Biden administration continued to arm the Israeli army and opened the way for all forms of aggression against Gaza, while trying to improve the atmosphere within the Israeli government and bring some improvements to the ruling coalition. However, it was clear that a confrontation between the two administrations was inevitably coming.

Darawsheh added that Biden is now paying a heavy price for his embrace of the Israeli position, as a result of his declining popularity ahead of the imminent elections, and the image of Israel itself has begun to decline significantly on the American street.

Not far from that, Israeli journalist and political analyst Joab Stern acknowledged the existence of differences between Netanyahu and the American administration, and said that there are expectations that an alternative to the Israeli prime minister will be found soon.

He added that the United States is now preparing for the next day after Netanyahu, and perhaps creating a reality completely different from what Netanyahu is doing under the influence of his allies in the ruling coalition of right-wing settlers, to whom Netanyahu has no alternative.

Netanyahu's future

Stern held Netanyahu fully responsible, saying that his leadership of the government does not enjoy confidence from the entire Israeli public, and each one has a different reason. There are those who say that he failed to eliminate Hamas, and there are those who say that he failed to release the “kidnapped,” and there are those who say that from the beginning there was no confidence in his character. For these reasons combined, “Netanyahu has reached the end of the political road, and his days are almost numbered.”

In more detail, Muhammad Darawsheh says that Netanyahu has no political future the day after the war on Gaza. Therefore, he is trying to prolong the war more and more, and he is ready to open an additional front with Lebanon, or with any other country if he is given the opportunity.

Darawsha pointed out that Netanyahu believes that there may be early elections in Israel next October, and he wants to position himself as an obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state, in the face of figures from the left who are working with the American administration to establish a Palestinian state, and therefore he will try to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. that; His goal is to attract the core base of the Israeli right.

But Hassan Mneimneh disagrees with the previous two proposals, and believes that the media talk about a dispute between the American administration and the Israeli government represents the best service that can be provided to Netanyahu at this time. Because he will say we reject American dictates, and we reject the United States choosing the Israeli prime minister.

Mneimneh stressed that the American position is consistent towards Israel, and deals with the government elected by the Israeli voter. “It is true that Biden would have preferred that Netanyahu not be at the head of the government currently, but he never said that we call for his overthrow.” Because this is considered interference in the affairs of an “allied and friendly” country. Therefore, “this is an exaggeration that the United States cannot undertake, or leak through the media.”

The war on Gaza

The researcher at the German Robert Bosch Academy enumerates the effects of the war on Gaza at several points. The most important of which are:

First - Netanyahu's government is the one that will be held accountable for its failure to accomplish what it promised to the Israeli street, namely eliminating Hamas and returning the prisoners in the Gaza Strip.

But researcher Darawsha himself stressed that “unfortunately” this government will not be held accountable for the crimes it committed against our people in the Gaza Strip.

Secondly - Netanyahu’s government believed that it could ignore the Palestinian issue and circumvent it, and go to regional peace agreements with Bahrain, Morocco, and the Emirates, and that the Palestinian issue would dissolve within the steps of normalization that were halted by the Al-Aqsa Flood process.

Third: The Netanyahu government believed that the so-called economic peace, improving the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank, and transferring funds to Hamas might make the Palestinians forget their national cause and their just demand for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

The professor at the Middle East Institute in Washington pointed out that Netanyahu said a few days ago that he was able to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and we do not expect him today to acknowledge the Palestinian state. The American position regarding demanding that Israel acknowledge the establishment of a Palestinian state in the long term is a formal demand and not a sincere demand.

As for the Israeli political analyst, he believes that after more than 100 days of military battle, Israel was unable to completely eliminate the Hamas movement, and this was its first goal. It was also unable to release those detained by Hamas, and this was the second goal of the war.

But it is due to the fact that Netanyahu was able to record some achievements in his war on Gaza. Such as: “directing a severe blow to Hamas fighters and its infrastructure, headquarters and tunnels,” as well as stopping the political measures of the movement that controls the Gaza Strip, and making it not provide any services to the Palestinian people during the last 100 days.

In contrast to this proposal, Hassan Mneimneh says that Netanyahu will ultimately be held accountable and punished, but from within Israel, and not through pressure that the United States may exert. Because it cannot defend its abandonment of its firm position towards Israel.

Source: Al Jazeera + websites