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We have more on those stories below. But first, we talk to one of the journalists behind a major new story about Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu’s war
Why has the Gaza war lasted so long? In a blockbuster investigative profile published this morning, the Times Magazine explains how Benjamin Netanyahu prolonged it partly for personal political reasons. Our Jerusalem bureau chief, Patrick Kingsley, and his colleagues Ronen Bergman and Natan Odenheimer spent six months interviewing more than 110 people and reviewing scores of military and government documents. I spoke to Patrick — who is leaving his role this summer after four and a half years in what many have called the hardest job in journalism — about Netanyahu, the war and how they got people to share so many secrets. Today is the 643rd day since the Oct. 7 attacks. Nobody imagined the war would go on this long. Why is it still going? The strategic argument was that it gave Israel a better chance of defeating not only Hamas but also Hamas’s regional allies, Hezbollah and Iran. Whether you buy that argument or not, our reporting shows that Netanyahu was clearly often motivated by his personal interest instead of only by these national priorities. There were key turning points when Netanyahu chose to continue the war to prevent the collapse of his coalition government. Fearing a domestic backlash, Netanyahu also refused to finalize a clear postwar plan for Gaza, leading to an aimless battlefield strategy that killed tens of thousands, stained Israel’s reputation — and still allowed Hamas to survive.
The article opens on a remarkable scene at an April 2024 cabinet meeting. A truce was on the table — almost. What happened? After months of stalling, Netanyahu had softened his negotiating position, raising the chances of a cease-fire and hostage release deal. His aides were preparing to present this new position to government ministers. Then a hard-right minister threatened to bring down the government if the deal went ahead. Netanyahu chose to continue the war rather than see his government collapse. You, Ronen and Natan uncovered so many things that have never been reported before. People should read the whole story, but can you tease them here with a few of the most telling tidbits? There’s a moment in a hospital when Netanyahu was in pajamas after being fitted with a pacemaker, and a security chief called to warn him of a looming attack. There’s the phone call, minutes into the Oct. 7 attack, when he first learns about the scale of the raid. There’s the attempt by his team to alter the official record of that phone call. There’s a surprise appearance by the Saudi crown prince, fraught conversations between Netanyahu and President Joe Biden, and a decisive meeting where he tells the military leadership to bomb Gaza with even more intensity. When I covered Netanyahu a decade ago, he was universally assessed as risk-averse, letting conflicts simmer rather than embark on all-out wars like the ones we’ve seen the last two years. What changed? In some senses, he is still the same Netanyahu that you knew — he still keeps lots of options open, avoiding key decisions until the last moment. We see that in his monthslong deferral of all-out confrontation with Hezbollah and Iran last year. But he has gradually taken more risks. Ultimately, he did choose to invade Lebanon, assassinate Hezbollah’s leadership, invade Syria and brazenly bombard Iran. These choices are partly about a shift in the Israeli psyche. To Israel’s critics, the Hamas attack was an inevitable reaction to Israel’s blockade of Gaza and occupation of the West Bank. But to many Israelis, the attack was the result of Israel’s timidity, its failure to deal pre-emptively with the threat that Hamas posed. Our colleague wrote recently that Israel has managed over the last two years to vanquish its enemies but also alienate its friends. What does that portend for its future? In diplomatic terms, Israel has a foot in two parallel realities. In the first, Israel’s global standing has rarely been lower. In the second, Israel is edging closer to breakthroughs with longtime foes, defying the logic that the war in Gaza has left it irrevocably isolated. Even as Israel’s reputation worsens within American and Arab societies, Israeli envoys are simultaneously engaged in back-channel talks with officials in Syria that could firm up Israel’s standing in the Middle East. It’s a bizarre and confusing situation. Netanyahu is 75 and Israel’s longest-tenured prime minister, serving nearly 18 years in three stints. Yet there is no hint of him being ready to retire. A few longtime Netanyahu watchers think he might bow out if he establishes formal ties with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. Coupled with the Iran campaign, he might then have secured enough military and diplomatic triumphs to restore his domestic legacy, even as his global reputation is in tatters. But for years, Netanyahu has refused to resign despite being prosecuted for corruption (a charge he denies). He has not given the impression of ever wanting to call it a day. More on the Middle East
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