Targeted assassinations cause more war and prevent a deal to redeem the hostages

In recent weeks (and months) the IDF has pursued a policy of “targeted assassinations” of some of the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, as part of its strategy for “winning” the current war against these two mini-armies (which Israel calls “terrorist organizations.”) A few days ago, the IDF attempted to assassinate Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Islamic military wing of Hamas (it is still not clear that they succeeded in killing him). They did so with “precision strikes“, according to the IDF, although it is unclear how “precision strikes” also killed (massacred) 100 additional people and wounded many more!

What has been the result? The delaying of the negotiations to redeem the 120 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7th, 2023! These talks have been torpedoed many times by PM Netanyahu and his super-extremist government partners, who apparently have no interest in getting the hostages back (despite false protestations to the contrary), if it means ending their forever war, which keeps them in power from month to month.

Similar things are happening in the north. In recent months, the IDF has conducted many targeted assassinations against leaders of the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon in order to show off their intelligence and operational prowess (to make up for their failures on October 7^th). Military commentators in the Israeli media boast about these great achievements, even if they know that they are counter-productive and achieve nothing of any major significance in the war in the north.

And what has been the result? More intense and more extensive attacks by Hezbollah against military and civilian targets in the north of Israel, leading to increasing destruction, devastation and despair among Israeli citizens – Arabs as well as Jews – in the Upper Galilee, and sometimes also the Lower Galilee. They all know that Bibi and his coalition partners have absolutely no plan for restoring calm to the north, for returning the evacuees to their homes, for ending this endless and fruitless war of attrition. They all know – as all sane citizens of Israel know by now – that only an end to the war against Hamas in the south will bring quiet to the north and a return of the evacuees to their communities which were evacuated last October.

This is obvious to everyone, except to Bibi and his cronies. On the contrary, the pursuit of their forever war in the south signals loud and clear to all Israeli citizens that the war of attrition in the north will continue, also forever, until it becomes a full-fledged war, which would be terrible, since it would bring disastrous destruction upon the people and lands of Lebanon and Israel. But that is where Bibi and his buddies are leading us, even though it is insane (since they are not exactly rational or sane anymore).

One of the most shocking aspects of these assassinations is that they are part of the old thinking in the government and the military that was supposed to have changed since the debacle of October 7^th. Unfortunately, not much has changed. On the contrary, it is the same old policy. What you can’t achieve with force, you try to achieve with more military force! However, this is a failed doctrine, one of sheer folly, that needs to change in the new post-October 7^th era. It is time for some new realizations to finally set in, i.e. that an all-out war against Hezbollah is a very dangerous and irresponsible move, that military force is not the only way to solve our problems, that diplomatic avenues are the real ways to rescue hostages and enable security.

However, the current government is continuing to pursue the old policies of war, war and more war. In so doing, it is intentionally abandoning the hostages, risking even worse devastation of communities in the north, and endangering Israel’s international standing, not to mention what it is doing to thousands of lives in Israel, and on the Palestinian side. It is no wonder that this government is often referred to here in Israel as “the government of destruction” in the media.

Furthermore, it is no secret that the prime minister has caved in again and again to the far-right flank of his government and he is doing it again by all of his nasty statements and actions which constantly torpedo any success in the negotiations for a deal. This is done, even though more and more of his own Likud ministers are urging him to get a deal done now, and some are even suggesting that he fire some of the most irresponsible fanatics of the far-right.

What on earth will this liar and spinster say to the American Congress next week other than falsehoods and purposeful distortions of the truth, like how we are winning the war and how by doing so he is going to bring all the hostages home. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The citizens of Israel know this and so do most Americans. Bibi won’t fool anyone with his theatrics in the American Congress.

In the meantime, it would be wise for him and his army not to continue the misguided policy of targeted assassinations, which delays negotiations for a deal and which risks a useless all-out war in the north, which the Israeli home front will not appreciate at all, to say the least.

One more thing: this week Bibi had the unbridled chutzpah to connect the attempted assassination of his friend Donald Trump with what he referred to as attempts to incite to assassinate him in Israel. This is nothing other than Republican/Likud spin, which no one in Israel takes seriously, except for Bibi’s base. It is just one more reason why the great majority of people in Israel no longer trust him and his policies and would like to see elections held, which he hopefully will lose, as soon as possible!