Haaretz ; Why Is Netanyahu Silent?
haaretz.com
The
thunderous silence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior
members of his government in the face of comments by Yahya Sinwar, Hamas
leader in Gaza, are further proof that Israel understands only force.
“I don’t want more wars,” Sinwar said in a rare interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica,
which ran simultaneously in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, in
which he called for a cease-fire. It does not seem to have moved anyone
in Jerusalem.
Israelis who are waiting for the day when a Hamas
leader gives a surrender speech will not find what they are looking for
in Sinwar’s remarks. Sinwar said that if Hamas is attacked it will
respond because “armed resistance is a right.”
>>Israel is incomparably stronger than Hamas – but it will never win: Interview with Hamas leader in G
He
also said that lifting the closure on Gaza is a necessary condition for
a cease-fire. And he said what the Israelis know in their heart: Israel
“is incomparably stronger than Hamas, but you will never win.”
Sinwar
is realistic when it comes to the balance of power between Israel and
Hamas and describes Israel’s dilemma as if he was privy to the minutes
of the security cabinet’s meetings and the boastful, words of ministers
Avigdor Lieberman and Naftali Bennett in the cockfight they are waging
with each other. “We cannot prevail in a confrontation with a nuclear
power,” he said, “but likewise, [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu
would have nothing to gain from a new war: This would be the fourth war,
and they cannot deliver the same results they delivered with the first,
the second, the third … Eventually, they would have to reoccupy Gaza.”
Sinwar
seems to understand very well the demographic threat that occupying
Gaza would mean for Israel: “At a time when Netanyahu is trying to get
rid of Palestinians in the West Bank while keeping a Jewish majority, I
don’t think he would be interested in annexing a territory with an extra
2 million Palestinians.”
Netanyahu
has a tendency to disparage Palestinian conciliatory messages in
general and changes in tone by Palestinian leaders in particular. This
time too, he will probably put all his energy into justifying his
inaction in advancing an agreement. Instead of seeing the moderate
messages as an opportunity for a cease-fire and rapprochement, Netanyahu
and his government are acting like they don’t hear. As usual, Netanyahu
will find someone else to blame, as he did in his meeting with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, in which he blamed Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas for the situation in Gaza.
And
meanwhile, the routine of death in Gaza goes on. On Friday, the Gaza
authorities reported that three more Palestinians, one of them a
12-year-old boy, were killed by Israeli army fire
near the border with the Strip. “I don’t want more wars,” Sinwar said.
Now it’s Israel’s turn to answer the question of what it wants: a
cease-fire or war.
The above article is Haaretz’s lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.
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