If Benjamin Netanyahu really cared about Israel he'd resign as Prime Minister

 Whatever you may or may not think of Israel, wherever your sympathies lie in the Palestine/ Israel situation, anyone who looks at the record of their Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can only conclude that the man has been a disaster all round, he is an obstacle to any settlement and peace and that nothing good is likely to happen whilst he is in charge of Israel. In two months time, it will be two years since the 7th October 2023 attack. Hamas has not been destroyed, innocent Israeli citizens are still held in tunnels, people on both sides are still dying. When the attack first happened, an Israeli friend told me with absolute certainty "within six months, Hamas will cease to exist and every hostage will be freed". He is as hard line a Zionist as you are likely to meet. I bumped into him yesterday and we had a long chat. He reminded me of all of the successes of Mossad, etc over the last two years. They decapitated the leadership of Hezbollah with the exploding pagers. They have effectively emasculated Iran and their nuclear programme. But the difficult truth is that Hamas still exist. The hostages are still in tunnels and even my friend admitted that Hamas had proven a harder nut to crack than he ever anticipated.

I asked him what he thought of Netanyahu as Prime Minister. He finds it very hard to be critical, I suspect he feels that it is an act of disloyalty to criticise Israel when they are at war, but he did say "We need a new Prime Minister, however you look at his record, history will not judge him well". I was actually gobsmacked at this response. He explained that he was worried that Netanyahu had lost the trust of Donald Trump and that is something that Israel simply can't afford to happen. I know little of Israeli politics, I have no idea who would be a good or a bad replacement should he go, and it's not really my job to advise Israelis. My friend mentioned a couple of people. I thought I'd ask Google, rather oddly, all I got was links to rather old articles. I asked @Grok on Twitter and the answer I got seemed to follow the logic and views of my friend yesterday

As of August 2025, with Netanyahu's coalition fracturing and early elections likely, Naftali Bennett emerges as a strong successor candidate. Polls show his leadership could secure an opposition majority. Bennett opposes Palestinian statehood, favors annexing West Bank areas, and supports aggressive policies against Hamas.

Reading this brought to me, the old adage "Careful what you wish for", in respect to those who support Palestinian causes and wish to see Netanyahu booted out. It rather sounds as if Bennett is more, rather than less hard line. Having said that, he would not have the baggage that surrounds Netanyahu. Of course a major realignment in Israeli politics is the only way that there will be a major change in the direction of Israeli/Palestinian relations. That will only happen if an election delivers a significant change in the balance of the Israeli Parliament. I suspect that will only happen if the Israeli electorate actually believe that any peace process will not fundamentally put the existence of Israel at risk, which has always been the Ace up the sleeve of Netanyahu. 

There is a view that Netanyahu is hanging on to power to avoid criminal charges. Personally I doubt that he will ever face a court, but he clearly doesn't fancy taking the chance. If, however, the people and small parties that support him, decide that someone like Bennett would have better electoral prospects and could rebuild the trust between Israel and Trump, Netanyahu may have no choice in the matter. As far as I can see though, his tenure as Prime Minister is no longer about what is best for Israel. That is never a good situation for anyone. 

Talking to other friends who are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause recently, some of whom are also Israeli's, they passionately believe that Netanyahu will ultimately end up before the court at the Hague charged with war crimes. This can only happen when he is no longer Prime Minister and loses the immunity from prosecution that comes with it. When I suggested that they may get an even more hardline PM, they said they would happily accept that if it saw Netanyahu in court. Personally, I doubt Israel would ever give up an ex PM to the Hague, whether he was guilty or not. Even his biggest enemies in Israel understand the precedent that would set.

The most depressing for me when writing about the Middle East is that the more I read about the situation, the less I see a way that the area will ever see any degree of peace. For all of my life, the best that can be hoped for is that fragile ceasefires give people in the area a modicum of normality. I am an optimist and dearly hope that a new generation of leaders emerge on both sides, that can actually deliver a just and lasting peace. I suspect that I'll be a very old man if I ever see that. One thing I am absolutely certain of, is that when we read the history of the Middle East in a hundred years, it will not judge the tenure of Benjamin Netanyahu kindly, whatever happens. The man has been a complete disaster for Israel, the Palestinian people and the world. I suspect that he is the main reason that some people, in my opinion rather misguidedly, see Hamas as a credible force for peace. As far as I am concerned, Hamas is a major reason why Israeli's vote for Netanyahu and he knows it. As for Hamas, their grip on Gaza has git stronger, not weaker since Netanyahu took power. I can only conclude that If Benjamin Netanyahu really cared about Israel he'd resign as Prime Minister.