Gaza War is Netanyahu's Re-election
Strategy
After the Mt. Meron disaster, where 44 people were killed
and hundreds injured, Netanyahu was finally toast. His indictments combined
with his responsibility for the Mt. Meron disaster were going to put an end to
his premiership. The Israeli Ministry of Health had limited outdoor gatherings
to 500 people, but Bibi gave the Hasidim the green light for 100,000 to go to
Mt. Meron, a venue already declared as dangerous.
Israel holds
all the cards. It knows that to enrage the Palestinians, all it has to do is
take more land in Jerusalem and create more obstacles to worshippers at the
Al-Asqua Mosque during Ramadan, the same way the Soviets could squeeze the west
in Berlin during the Cold War.
Facing political annihilation over his criminal probe and
incompetence over the Mt. Meron mess, the only way for Bibi to retain power was
to launch a war in Gaza. During wartime, the Israelis come together, that means
politics stops. and Yair Lapid has three weeks to form a new government. If he
fails, there will be new elections. Netanyahu will keep the Gaza War going
until the clock has run out on Lapid.
Netanyahu is a dictator and Israel is not a democracy.
Unlike other dictatorships where the election is rigged by stuffing ballot
boxes, Netanyahu rules by building coalitions until it's time for him to
deliver on the power sharing agreement, and then refuses to deliver on his side
of the bargain, collapsing the government and forcing new elections. That is
why there have been four Israeli elections in the past two years.
Lapid
has until June 2 to form a government. That's the day the Gaza War will end.