Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is committed to the ‘Greater Israel’ vision and is on a ‘historic and spiritual mission’ to achieve it [Ronen Zvulun/POOL/AFP via Getty]
Netanyahu has unabashedly preached in recent weeks of how spiritually and politically bound he is to the “Greater Israel” project – and how he is actively engaged in making it a reality.
This biblical-religious vision would see Israel extend from Wadi al-Arish to the Euphrates River. Indeed, the “Greater Israel” project is already in its advanced stages – the Judaization of the Palestinian interior, settler expansion in the West Bank, and the open war of extermination in Gaza. Alongside this Israel has expanded further into Lebanon and Syria, launched a war against Iran, and the rest will undoubtedly follow.
Jabotinsky reborn
A few weeks ago, Netanyahu gave a public speech – to no Arab comment or response – declaring his commitment to the vision of Ze’ev Jabotinsky (one of the founding fathers of the Zionist movement, who advocated for using maximum violence against Palestinians to force their submission). Netanyahu even paused with a kind of pride to highlight the personal connection his father had with Jabotinsky, and how that influenced him.
It’s no secret that Netanyahu sees himself as completing the Zionist movement’s project – as a new Jabotinsky. Where the first secured Israel’s foothold in the ‘Promised Land’, the second is stretching his hands out toward the promised “Greater Israel”.
These brazen statements, which threaten the very existence of the Arabs, both as individual states and as a collective, haven’t been met with the firm political response their gravity demands. Instead, varying levels of condemnation have been issued, with some not even daring to attribute the “Greater Israel” comments to their speaker, instead hinting vaguely at “remarks made in the Israeli media”.
The new rules of engagement
It’s clear Netanyahu no longer hesitates to speak his mind regarding the future of the region, and is determined to seize what he sees as an unprecedented historical opportunity to implement his project as quickly as possible, especially following the changes in Syria, and what has happened in Gaza and Lebanon.
This has all happened alongside the dismantling of political, economic, and psychological barriers since Camp David (1978) and the agreements and diplomatic relations which followed. The taboo has crumbled, space has opened up for Israel, and now, for Netanyahu, it’s just a matter of advancing toward the desired objectives. Moreover, the fragility of the Arab region and the subjugation of Arab states under Israel’s umbrella – either directly or via the US – tempt further escalation to impose a new reality.
Netanyahu himself is highly opportunistic and never misses a chance to strike at his prey and shift power dynamics through force. For him, Trump’s presence in the White House is a gift that must be maximised to forge a new balance of powers. He’s unconcerned whether his project to expel Gaza’s Palestinians is sold as Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” project, nor does he care about the protests of the Arabs or the censure of the world – so long as reality is altered in accordance with the logic of brute strength.
His first steps after Trump’s return to the White House were to break the ceasefire in Gaza, launch a war against Iran, and expand in Syria after attacking Lebanon; he is in the process of writing a new rulebook of engagement based on Israel’s freedom to violate land and airspace whenever it wishes. Here, UN statements, human rights organisations, and objections from Europeans, Arabs, and Asians carry no weight – the voice of missiles and tanks is stronger.
Netanyahu sees himself entrusted with a divine mission: to empower his “chosen people” and ensure their domination over the heart of the Middle East by redrawing borders and maps through blood and fire. Furthermore, the weakness of the Arabs – their preoccupation with repressing their own people and their own wars – make them an appetising and tempting morsel within easy reach.
This is why Netanyahu repeatedly states that “what we do in Gaza reverberates throughout the Middle East”. When he adds: “You know who I mean, neighbour,” this sends a message to all regional capitals from Cairo to Ankara to Tehran – that Israel is coming with its cavalry and men, that nothing will stop it achieving its goals, and that all they can do is submit.
The greatest catastrophe is that the rules of the game have changed beyond recognition – but the Arabs appear to have been left behind. Indeed, Israel is actively rewriting history and geography with sheer firepower, and no longer needs to sell illusions of peace, coexistence, or a two-state solution. Meanwhile, the Arabs continue using the same old concepts and terminology, as if they belong to another era, speaking a language no one understands. Netanyahu declares: “War, then war,” and they reply: “Peace, then peace”.
Helplessness and humiliation
Netanyahu knows the Arab regimes are too weak to confront his project and, in fact, lack even the will to do so. He is used to hearing Arab rulers, both privately and publicly, declare that Israel is a strategic ally in facing the shared Iranian threat, Hamas’ recklessness, or threats from political Islam. At the start of the war, he openly reminded them to remain silent – because he was fighting the extremists “on their behalf”.
What worsens the Arabs’ paralysis further is the rise of a distorted liberal ideology, whose gist is that the Palestinian issue is a chronic headache to be discarded, while their attention should focus instead on building a “New Middle East” – a land of grand projects, innovative technologies, investments, and deals.
Never before have the Arabs – or the peoples of the East more generally – experienced such a level of helplessness and humiliation as they do today. The region has gone through horrors and invasions, but has never lost its balance or been violated to this extent. Usually, a nucleus of resistance would form somewhere in the region amid fragmentation and conflict, enough to restore some unity and strength, respond to aggression, and mount a defence. Today, nothing remains but conflict, fragmentation, and a total loss of direction.
The genocide in Gaza has lasted nearly two years – the world has watched the killings, starvation, thirst, and the destruction of all means of life. Yet the Arab regimes stand by impotent, not daring even to deliver a single bottle of water. The bodies of Gaza’s children, women, and elderly wither, while their Arab neighbours offer excuses for not delivering aid – excuses more disgraceful than any sin.
If the Arabs are incapable even of delivering food and medical aid to a besieged and starving Arab population, what could they do if tanks moved across their lands and planes flew over their heads?
Interpretations of the current Arab predicament vary – whether it is the product of real impotence, deliberate complicity, or a mix of both. But while the causes are many, the result is the same: impotence and fragility.
Today, the Arabs face an undeniable truth: Netanyahu doesn’t only seek to consume Gaza, nor annex what he calls “Judea and Samaria”; he is engaged in a spiritual mission to implement the project of “Greater Israel”, from the Nile to the Euphrates. The inferno is fast approaching the tents of the Arabs – the flames will not be confined to the already-incinerated tents of the Palestinians for much longer.
Dr Rafik Abdessalem is a former Tunisian politician who served as foreign minister of Tunisia from 2011-2013.
This is an edited and abridged translation from our Arabic edition. To read the original article click here.
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