Israel’s Haaretz published today an analysis by Alon Pinkas entitled “Netanyahu Must Be Politically Destroyed, or Israel Will Go Down With Him.” The author cites the famous theme of Rome’s Cato the Elder, “Carthago delenda est” (“Carthage must be destroyed”), something Cato appended to the end of all his speeches. Then Pinkas makes the point that Israel is on the road to destruction, and that the elephant in the room is Netanyahu: “Yes, we know he has no core ethics and values, and no moral compass…. Yet still it is worth reiterating: Netanyahu Delenda est. Netanyahu must be politically destroyed....”
Pinkas argues that Netanyahu’s “responsibility for the October 7 debacle ... has been and will increasingly be dealt with extensively. The same applies for his management of the war, which was hitched to his political survival. However, there’s another aspect that deserves closer scrutiny: his foreign policy record. After all, here’s a man who built a career on the false premise of being an astute statesman, claiming even now that his experience is critical to winning the war. Even his harshest critics fell into that trap and, while castigating him politically, exhibited an inexplicable reverence for his foreign relations acumen against all evidence.” Pinkas, a former consul general in New York and adviser to Shimon Peres, and chief of staff of two foreign ministers, then reviews seven major failures of Netanyahu’s foreign policy.
One is Netanyahu’s “‘strategy’ of strengthening Hamas by allowing hundreds of millions of dollars to be funneled to it, in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority so as to prove that no political process is tenable, created a false impression in Israel that Hamas was deterred, was risk-averse and was busy with governing Gaza. As for the Palestinians in general ... he glaringly neglected, ignored and dismissed the Palestinian issue. Since forming his new government in December 2022, he has been committed to annexing large swaths of the West Bank. The result: October 7.”
Israel faces with Netanyahu “a toxic cocktail of his political vulnerabilities, the ongoing corruption trial and his delusions of grandeur that he is some historical figure placed by providence to save Israel and Western civilization from Islamo-fascism, and can’t be bothered with earthly notions of failure and accountability….
“That Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t resigned yet is an affront to decency. That not one member of his governing coalition of sycophants hasn’t demanded that he do so—or done so themselves—is scientific proof that invertebrates can form a government. It is a sad group profile in cowardice. Netanyahu’s casual refusal to even consider the possibility is a cynical repudiation of integrity, and a callous disregard for the fundamental tenets of accountability and responsibility. More than anything, it is an insult to the Israeli public’s intelligence. This nation deserves better.”
Still, “it is worth reiterating: Netanyahu delenda est [sic]. Netanyahu must be politically destroyed, otherwise Israel will go down with him.”
