Netanyahu Vindicated
It’s understandable in this election week to think of all politics as matters of winners and losers, yet the word “vindication” is seldom heard. To define it in terms that are fresh in our minds from the American election, vindication is bigger than winning, much bigger. Vindication is when someone who had been all but counted out suddenly becomes a major upset winner. There aren’t too many of those this season in American politics, but there is one who is head-and-shoulders above all the rest in international politics, and it’s Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Times of Israel, generally regarded as a centrist newspaper, wrote this two weeks ago: “US President Joe Biden [said he] would consider limiting future military aid to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went ahead with an offensive against Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah… Biden said [it would be] a “red line.” Vice President Kamala Harris famously said at the time that she had “studied the maps” and that a Rafah operation was not viable,” as if she could really make such an analysis of a military operation.
“The US wasn’t the only country to .. warn …against the step. An Israeli offensive in Rafah “could only lead to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and would be a turning point in this conflict,” said French President Emmanuel Macron. The UK, Jordan and Egypt also issued stark injunctions… [W]orld leaders were projecting outright panic over the planned campaign, which Israel insisted was necessary … to complete the dismantlement of Hamas… They warned of catastrophic consequences for the civilian population in the city, which had become a refuge for much of the Strip’s population amid the war; they said a proper evacuation of the city would require months and was unfeasible; they predicted a cataclysmic death toll that would dwarf all that had come before.
“The intense global pressure led to months of delay, but the Rafah offensive eventually went ahead in May regardless, with Israel successfully evacuating the civilian population ahead of its push into the city … Over the course of four months, the military systematically dismantled Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, with civilian deaths actually far lower than during the opening campaigns of the war in Gaza’s north… As the promised doom failed to materialize, so did the threats of repercussions for Israel. The international community was largely muted as the IDF carried out its work, neighborhood by neighborhood. Egypt … suspended aid convoys into Gaza through the Rafah Crossing… [E]fforts in Rafah reached their climax … with IDF troops killing Israel’s number one target in Gaza, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, architect of the October 7 attack. …And now, just months after their admonishments and threats, Israel’s allies are celebrating the terror chief’s demise, while enthusiastically promoting the opportunity his elimination from the picture represents.”
The death of Yahya Sinwar, … is an important and symbolic moment in Israel’s ongoing war … His elimination was … made official by … Netanyahu, following hours of rumors fueled by the circulation of unmistakable pictures of his corpse. Yet not one rocket was fired into Israel by Hamas in response…The man who threatened to ‘take down the border with Israel and tear out their hearts from their bodies’ [was] dead …
“Netanyahu was right to ignore the US and others’ attempts to stop its military action. As Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: ‘After decades, we prove[d] that there is a military solution to terrorism.’ … Sinwar’s demise is not just a military victory – it is a powerful statement about Israel’s refusal to engage in appeasement. Netanyahu, long known for his hardline stance against terrorism, has made it clear that while Israel would engage in negotiations with Hamas to release hostages, its main agenda is not to talk with those who target civilians but to eliminate them.”
In his recent book War, Bob Woodward recounts many tense and difficult conversations between Biden and Netanyahu. Netanyahu refused to bend in the direction of appeasement implored by the American President. That must not have been easy for Netanyahu, given Israel’s dependence on the US for advanced weapons, but Netanyahu stood strong, and now he is even stronger. He has been vindicated.
(Colin Hanna is President of Let Freedom Ring, USA and an American Radio Journal commentator.)
