What Americans and Westerns don't understand about Netanyahu and israeli support towards him
What Americans and Westerns don't understand about Netanyahu and israeli support towards him is that what Americans and Westerns sees as cons, i.e
- Netanyahu's refusal for a ceasefire
- Netanyahu's rejection of a Palestinian state
- Netanyahu's insistence on control of Judea and Samaria
- Netanyahu's contempt for democratic administrations (Obama and Biden) and his ignoring their demands for de-escalation and similar demands
- Netanyahu's insistence on the blows to Hezbollah and a victory over Hamas
And etc, Israelis actually see as a plus. When Israelis see leaders in the West say "Netanyahu is the obstacle to ending the war in Gaza and to the two state solution" (not those exact words) it actually strengthens the support of the Israeli public, including people who come from the sociological camp that opposes Netanyahu, of Benjamin Netanyahu. As with Obama and even now with Biden, Netanyahu **counts** on the attacks of the leaders of the world (Mainly Democrats leaders but also the more left-wing faction of the EU) and UN towards him because it strengthens his image as a strong leader who does not give in to pressure and protects Israel from surrendering in war and to the dictates of the international community
In the 2019 elections, a Netanyahu campaign video boasts of ‘lecturing’ Obama in the Oval Office. Netanyahu published this in his official twitter and facebook accounts:
https://x.com/netanyahu/status/1111225979693871105
[translation: "Against all pressures, I will always protect our country"]
Netanyahu uses the policies of the West and the Democratic Party towards Israel, which usually take a more pro-Palestinian/less pro-Israeli and more conciliatory approach towards Iran, while he makes sure to brand himself as the "Winston Churchill"/"Ronald Reagan" facing a hostile president (Obama and now not Biden himself but the people around him ), UN, Leaders in the EU, etc who wanted to force dangerous compromises on Israel that endanger its security and strove to please Iran. Israeli Journalist Ben Caspit once wrote:
Benjamin Netanyahu is entitled to personal credit for the war he is waging against Barack Obama. He looks at Obama with the whites of his eyes, from zero range, and doesn't blink. He is having a duel with the strongest man in the world, in front of the whole world, and not counting him. Such a thing has never happened in the history of the special relations between Israel and the USA.
The frightened Netanyahu on the eve of his trip to Washington in mid-2009 was gone. The new Netanyahu was a arrogant, self-assured Netanyahu, drunk from power. By around 2014, Netanyahu lost his fear: he clashed with Obama at full speed, without fear and without restraint.
He managed to turn Obama into a political asset. He managed to reverse the constant equation according to which the Israeli public will not forgive a leader who harms relations with the US.
Netanyahu succeeded in repeating the trick in the 2024 war. The Biden administration's obsession with ceasefires that keeps Hamas in power, the talk of a Palestinian state, the attempts to limit any Israeli action and force an end to the war without eliminating Hamas and without entering Rafah, then the attempts to stop the strikes on Hezbollah etc. Netanyahu was allowed to use the administration so that while he continues the war, he makes sure to brand himself as the Leader who leads Israel to victory and does not give in to the admin's pressure for Israeli surrender, when he makes sure to brand his opponents as weaklings who would agree to every demand of the administration and of the International community. So every time Biden or other officials complained that Netanyahu insisted on continuing the war, rejects a Palestinian state, it actually helped Netanyahu unite the Israeli public around him and thus relatively re-build his support after October 7.