Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh spoke to two Israeli sources earlier this week and came up with an account not reported in the major news media about what actually happened with the discovery of the bodies of six hostages in a tunnel under Gaza two weeks ago. “The presence of any hostages in the tunnel was not known before an Israeli sapper team—a military unit composed of experts in demolition whose mission is to destroy Hamas tunnels—happened upon a reinforced door, blew it open, and found the bodies of six Israeli hostages,” Hersh reports in an article on his Substack dated Sept. 4. “The IDF team had no idea that the hostages were being held there. The lack of information has been at the core of acute internal dissent between the Israeli military leadership and Netanyahu.”
The upshot of what his two sources, one of whom is described as an “insider,” told Hersh is that Netanyahu’s only interest in the tunnels is the finding and killing or capturing of Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar. Netanyahu knows that it’s impossible to rescue any hostages in the tunnels alive because there’s no element of surprise. “Bibi was willing to sacrifice all the hostages because there is no way to rescue them in a tunnel. Not one hostage will survive the operation if and when Sinwar is cornered underground.” The Israeli insider, who was severely injured in combat for his country, asked, “Why is the leader of a country willing to sacrifice so many citizens of the country he leads? This is the question.”
The second source, who agreed with the insider’s account, provided an answer to the insider’s question. “If he agrees to any of Hamas’s demands, except for a limited ceasefire without any [military] withdrawals, his government will fail” because of the extreme stance of his coalition’s right-wing leadership. There is another reason, not tied to politics, the Israeli added. Netanyahu has “convinced himself, with his wife’s and son’s help, that he is the savior of Israel and the Jewish people. Ergo, he must not fail.”
“At some point,” the insider said, “it will be physically impossible for Sinwar to hide” as the IDF destroys more tunnels. When the end comes, “In Bibi’s view, it will be like getting Hitler. It’s a trophy that will restore his reputation, and he will be beloved by the citizens of Israel.”
At this point in his political life, the insider told Hersh, “Bibi wants the war, any war, to go on because if the war ends, two things happen: an election in Israel, and an official investigative committee set up to examine the failure on October 7. Both these things will be bad for Bibi. They will result in him being removed from office, making it easier for the judges in his [still pending] corruption trials to send him to jail.
“To the extent there is a weak ray of light which might, just might, restore a smidgen of respectability to Bibi, it is capturing Sinwar, dead or alive. This is his only way to balance the very bad things both the voters and the investigation—and history—will say about him.”