Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has shown neither interest nor regard for peace with Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group born in the 1970s in response to decades of occupation.
By Abbey Makoe
Israel’s bombardment of Qatar this week revealed far more than a reckless act of aggression. Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has shown neither interest nor regard for peace with Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group born in the 1970s in response to decades of occupation.
Qatar, which has tirelessly worked as a mediator to secure the release of Israeli hostages and broker peace, did not deserve to be punished for its efforts. Yet Israel struck a building where Hamas leaders were meeting Qatari officials to discuss, reportedly in good faith, a new U.S. peace proposal. The message was unmistakable: diplomacy be damned.
What makes this attack even more disturbing is its wider implications. Israel under Netanyahu appears determined to drag the United States into ever darker corners of geopolitics. Washington is Israel’s lifeline, its largest military and economic backer, and the shield that protects it from accountability in the UN Security Council and beyond.
But as Israel’s pariah status grows, Netanyahu’s strategy looks increasingly like that of the Biblical Samson: determined to pull down the pillars around him, even if it means self-destruction.
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At home, Netanyahu faces enormous pressure. Week after week, hundreds of thousands of Israelis march, demanding peace and the release of hostages. Families want closure, whether through the safe return of loved ones or the dignified handover of the dead. But Netanyahu has blocked any progress, prioritizing personal survival over national interest. Criminal charges hang over him, waiting for the day peace returns.
For many Israelis, the trauma of October 2023, when Hamas breached Israel’s supposedly impenetrable defences, killing more than 1,000 people, remains fresh. Netanyahu has never recovered politically or morally from that national humiliation. Instead of seeking resolution, he has doubled down on defiance, clinging to power while leading his nation deeper into isolation.
Netanyahu presents himself as indispensable, yet he embodies traits of a psychotic autocrat cloaked in democracy. His vision of a “Greater Israel” rests on the elimination of Palestinians, an agenda as destructive as that of King Herod, the Biblical ruler who left blood and ruin in his wake.
There is no shortage of potential charges against him: war crimes in Gaza, deliberate starvation of civilians, illegal settlements, and indefinite detention without trial. His actions reveal contempt for international law and for the very idea of diplomacy.
This week’s strike on Qatar was indefensible. Even U.S. President Donald Trump, usually quick to defend Israel, was forced into an awkward apology to the Emir of Qatar. That Washington, host to its largest military base in the Gulf, may have known of the strike in advance only deepens the mistrust. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have already condemned the attack, reassessing their ties with the U.S.
Across the globe, Israel’s behaviour is testing the limits of international tolerance. At the UN, Washington’s veto keeps shielding Netanyahu from accountability, but frustration is mounting. Increasingly, nations are sidestepping the paralysis of the Security Council by recognizing the State of Palestine outright. France, the UK, and Spain are among those expected to make their recognition official at the upcoming UN General Assembly.
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The contradiction is glaring: how can Israel claim to seek peace while bombing mediators trying to broker it? As Bill Clinton once remarked to George W. Bush, “You can’t kill all your enemies.” Netanyahu has yet to learn this lesson.
His legacy will be written not as a peacemaker but as a deeply unstable man who sacrificed his country’s future for personal survival. War crimes charges await him when the protective shield of U.S. power inevitably crumbles. Evil does not triumph forever.
But in the meantime, immense harm is being done, to Palestinians under siege, to Israel’s own citizens, and to America’s standing in the world.
Abbey Makoe is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Global South Media Network. The views expressed here are his own.
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