Dim hopes for approaching Israeli elections

With Israeli parliamentary elections coming up on October 27, it’s important to keep in mind that Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies toward the Palestinians are, unfortunately, very popular among his target constituencies: “Jewish Israelis are united in their support for perennial war, which effectively means charting an increasingly solitary regional and global path,” writes Ori Goldberg. (1)

And, as presumably most Israeli voters know, Israel is not observing the Gaza cease-fire it agreed to. More jaded observers talk about the concept of “a ceasefire with Israeli characteristics” - i.e.: you cease, we fire. The phrase is a play on the Chinese Communists’ concept of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

As Britain’s Channel 4 reports: (2)

Barry Malone recently reported for Middle East Eye:

How many people do you need to kill before you’ve violated a ceasefire? One, surely. But what about two? 10? 100? Or how about more than 1,200? That’s how many Palestinians Israel has killed in Gaza since agreeing to an ostensible ceasefire with Hamas in October.

Israel has also continued to pummel southern Lebanon, despite a “ceasefire” there. But the western media appears to see no violations at all. Instead, it sees ceasefires that are “fragile”, “tested”, “strained” or “shaky”.

Given that news reporting is supposed to rely on precision and accuracy, you’d imagine organisations such as the BBC, Reuters, the Associated Press and CNN have read the terms of the deal that was signed between Israel and Hamas in Egypt. It’s unequivocal, and there really isn’t much room for interpretation. There were conditions that needed to be fulfilled within the first 72 hours before the truce could take effect, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces to agreed lines within Gaza, and the return by Hamas of all remaining Israeli hostages, living or dead.

Once the prerequisites were met, which they were, the text said that “all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment and targeting operations will be suspended”. [emphasis added, paragraph breaks adjusted] (3)

Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal has been to have weak and/or failed states in his geographic neighborhood. And now the war which Trump initiated jointly with Netanyahu against Iran is doing an awful lot of damage to countries in the neighborhood.

But the Netanyahu government doesn’t seem to be able to follow any policy other than a more-or-less chronic state of aggressive conflicts and disputes with nearby countries.

David Shulman in a sobering essay this past March lists four elements of what he describes as “the underpinnings for much of Israeli society and politics.”

1. The Land of Israel, from the Jordan River to the sea, belongs to the Jews and only to the Jews.
The state is a metaphysical entity worth dying for, if necessary, rather than a pragmatic framework meant to make life livable for its citizens.
2. What was initially an explicit drive to create a Jewish majority in Palestine - a goal realized in the course of the 1948 war and the Palestinian Nakba - has morphed into an obsession with ensuring Jewish supremacy throughout the land, and specifically in the occupied territories. To that end, Israel needs a harsh apartheid system in the West Bank
3. What was initially an explicit drive to create a Jewish majority in Palestine - a goal realized in the course of the 1948 war and the Palestinian Nakba - has morphed into an obsession with ensuring Jewish supremacy throughout the land, and specifically in the occupied territories. To that end, Israel needs a harsh apartheid system in the West Bank
4. An Israeli proverb: “If force doesn’t work, use more force.” Not even Thomas Hobbes entertained such a primitive notion of what constitutes power. International legitimacy no longer counts. (4)

The situation in Gaza can scarcely be described as a peaceful one, with Israel actively supporting violent militias opposing Hamas. This is an old story. Israel encouraged Hamas to act as an Islamist opposition to weaken the much more secular Palestinian Authority:

Israel, Jordan, and a few other Arab states were concerned about the growing strength of the PLO’s secular nationalist ideology and thus initially supported Hamas’s creation. Like other local Sunni Islamic political parties and movements ... Hamas was grounded in the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. (5)

Owen Jones brings us this grim report on Israel-Türkiye relations. (6)

Netanyahu’s regime in now claiming that NATO ally Türkiye is its new “Iran.” Although Iran itself is actually winning the war which Netanyahu encouraged Trump to undertake. As Jones points out, Israel attacking Türkiye would potentially be an “Article 5” event requiring its NATO allies to come to its defense: i.e., defense against Israel.

Meanwhile, Trump has been threatening to militarily attack Oman. Oman was the first country in what we now call the Middle East with which the US established a diplomatic partnership. As the US Embassy to Oman says on its webpage:

The two countries formalized their relationship when they signed the “Treaty of Amity and Commerce” in 1833 - the first bilateral accord between the U.S. and an Arab Gulf state. In 1840, the Sultan’s envoy Ahmad bin Na’aman sailed to New York on the Sultanah, and bin Na’aman became the first Arab diplomat accredited to the U.S. The Sultanah was also the first Arab ship to sail to the United States. (7)

That was during the first Jackson Administration. Which brings me to one of my persistent pet peeves, which is that commentators who should know better push the narrative that Steve Bannon established during Trump 1.0 that Trump is somehow an admirer of Andrew Jackson. For all of Old Hickory’s real faults, he was the sworn enemy of John C. Calhoun, who still reigns as the Evil Spirit of American History. Trump is the modern-day John Calhoun.

Oman and the US had decent relations since the Age of Jackson. Until 2026, when the Orange Anomaly started threatening to bomb them if they don’t kiss his behind.

Notes:

(1) Goldberg, Ori (2026): As Iran and the U.S. talk, Israel chooses eternal war. +972 Magazine 07/03/20226. <https://www.972mag.com/us-iran-talks-israel-eternal-war/> (Accessed: 2026-07-08).

(2) Netanyahu rejects Trump’s Gaza peace plan and refuses to withdraw troops. Channel 4 News YouTube channel 08/10/2026. <https://youtu.be/qRIVIjto_qM?si=imH9zScPdNjz46B-> (Accessed: 2026-15-08).

(3) Malone, Barry (2026): Israel is not 'testing' its ceasefires. It's violating them. Middle East Eye 08/04/2026. <https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-not-testing-its-ceasefires-its-violating-them> (Accessed: 2026-07-08).

(4) Shulman, David (2026): Evil in the West Bank. New York Review of Books 03/12/2026, 11.

(5) Michaeli, Yarden et al (2026): 'Israel Is Sending Armed Militias in Gaza to Commit War Crimes – and I Have to Protect Them'. Haaretz 08/27/2026. Gift link: <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2026-08-27/ty-article-magazine/gaza-israel-sending-militias-commit-war-crimes-i-have-to-protect-them/0000019f-f0f0-df61-a3ff-f9fe6ca70000?gift=041a126ee36b4f4ebe8b3385c37af512> (Accessed: 2026-28-08).

(6) Israel At War With Turkey - Is It Coming? Owen Jones YouTube channel 08/17/2026. <https://youtu.be/bY0eEhYOH3s?si=5FsleU4MeiEDiYo5> (Accessed: 2026-28-08).

(7) History of the U.S.-Oman Relationship. U.S. Embassy Oman website, n/d. <https://om.usembassy.gov/history-of-the-u-s-oman-relationship/> (Accessed: 2026-28-08).