Middle East conflict | Netanyahu's war for Greater Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu's response was prompt. On Sunday evening, more than 600 former intelligence and military officials had issued a spectacular open letter demanding an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the start of negotiations for the return of the 20 surviving hostages. The statement, signed by all surviving heads of the Shin Bet and Mossad intelligence agencies, demonstrates more clearly than ever before that two political camps are now irreconcilably opposed to each other. The ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip, openly demanded by Netanyahu's governing coalition, and the annexation of the West Bank by Israel are viewed by the former heads of arguably the world's most effective intelligence agencies as an existential threat.

Until now, only individual officers had openly criticized the move, such as former commander of the armed forces Dan Halutz. "Israel's greatest enemy is Benjamin Netanyahu. He is a security risk and should be arrested," Halutz said in an interview with Channel 12 TV in April.

On Monday, several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of Netanyahu's private residence and, like tens of thousands of fellow protesters on the streets of Tel Aviv, demanded an end to the hunger blockade in Gaza . Individual demonstrators were arrested at both protests.

The government camp appears unfazed by the growing resistance. The news portal Ynet quoted Netanyahu after a meeting with his ministers on Tuesday morning: "The die is cast. We will occupy the entire Gaza Strip."

In the coming days, Netanyahu said, he would seek the backing of the military leadership. Not through negotiations, however, but once again with personal attacks. Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir refuses to take the remaining 25 percent of the enclave's territory militarily. "It would take months to destroy all of Hamas' tunnels," Zamir said, "and the remaining hostages would likely not survive such an offensive." If Zamir didn't cooperate, Netanyahu then hinted that he should simply resign.

The Hostage Families Forum also sees the conquest of the entire 42-kilometer coastal strip—with the goal of Jewish resettlement—regularly demanded by ultranationalists such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as a death sentence for the abductees. "For 22 months, we have been sold the illusion that military pressure will bring the hostages back," it said in a statement last Sunday.

Until now, it was primarily voices from the political left who accused Netanyahu of continuing the war purely out of self-interest. Now, more representatives of the security establishment are switching sides almost daily. Former army spokesman Peter Lerner summarizes the governing coalition's actions as follows: "Political survival disguised as national security. Our sons and daughters are in an endless quagmire." The popular former director of the Mossad sees Israel facing a political and military defeat.

In his circle of confidants, Netanyahu reveals why he is ignoring his opponents' warnings. Together with his radical coalition partners, he intends to fulfill what he sees as a historic mission. During the presidency of Donald Trump, whose government includes several unconditional Israel supporters, Gaza and the West Bank are to become part of a Greater Israel . According to the "Kahanists," who are ideologically close to him, Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah, and Rafah should receive the status of semi-autonomous enclaves. They are prepared to do almost anything to prevent a two-state solution.

The representatives of this religious-nationalist movement justify what they see as the necessary expulsion of as many Palestinians as possible by citing the historical right of Jews to all of Palestine. But even more frequently, they argue that Israel cannot coexist with entities controlled by Iran.

Ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich believe that they and the messianic circles they lead are engaged in a historic battle: against the protests on the streets and the warning words of former intelligence and army officers, for "Eretz Israel," a Greater Israel, whose borders would also include the Golan Heights, which belong to Syria.

Since October 7, 2023, the two right-wing extremist ministers have armed many of the 700,000 settlers in the West Bank and built a kind of vigilante group to protect them. "The radical settlers are committing pogroms in the West Bank," warns former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "They are a danger to the liberal Israel we represent."

Overly critical voices are no longer welcome in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. On Monday, MP Ofer Cassif of the left-wing Hadash Taal party quoted David Grossman, currently the most famous Israeli author. "It is with a broken heart that I say that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza ," Grossman said in an interview with the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica." "That's not a quote, it's fabricated by them," complained Deputy Speaker Tali Gottlieb, and had Cassif forcibly removed from the podium by ushers.

Attorney General Baharav-Miara repeatedly blocked government decisions, such as the dismissal of the Netanyahu-critical Shin Bet chief. Now she herself is facing resignation. The Supreme Court blocked her dismissal, which was decided by the government. The judges plan to review the opposition's appeal within 30 days. The judges will likely use the entire timeframe to make their decision. Because they, too, are standing in the way of the Greater Israel project, which violates international law .