The Israeli prime minster’s era may be nearing its end, writes Ramzy Baroud. But before this bloody political chapter closes, countless more Palestinians may be displaced and killed.
Displaced Palestinians during their journey back to Gaza and the north via Al-Rasheed Street, crossing the bridge over the estuary of the Wadi Gaza, Jan. 28, 2025. (Ashraf Amra – United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East/ Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 3.0 igo)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing perhaps the most precarious moment of his political career. He knows it. His allies know it. And his rivals — both within his coalition and across Israel’s political spectrum — are preparing to capitalize on his growing weakness.
Former Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon, who also served as deputy prime minister between 2007 and 2009, is among the latest Israeli political figures to join a growing chorus of criticism directed at Netanyahu.
“In the final result,” Ramon said in an interview with Radio Galey, cited by the Israeli outlet Srugim, “we did not win.” He then broke down that failure in blunt terms: “We did not win in Lebanon, we did not win in Iran, and we did not win against Hamas.”
Another prominent critic is former Israeli army chief Gadi Eisenkot, who joined Netanyahu’s emergency war government following the events of Oct. 7, 2023, before resigning with Benny Gantz in June 2024.
Beyond accusing Netanyahu of failing to protect Israel on Oct. 7, Eisenkot argues that the prime minister has effectively surrendered Israel’s political decision-making to U.S. President Donald Trump, thereby strategically weakening Israel.
Ironically, Netanyahu’s coalition partners have often been even more opportunistic than the opposition.
Since the formation of the current coalition government on Dec. 29, 2022 — widely regarded as the most right-wing government in Israel’s history — figures such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have repeatedly used Netanyahu’s political vulnerability to expand their own influence. Whenever Netanyahu needed political support to remain in power, they demanded concessions in return.
For Israel’s far-right extremists, Netanyahu’s inability to secure decisive strategic victories has often translated into opportunities to advance their own agendas. Every setback on the battlefield became an opening for greater settlement expansion, harsher measures against Palestinians, and deeper entrenchment of extremist policies.
Unable to deliver “victory,” Netanyahu turned perpetual war into a political strategy in its own right. The result has been a genocidal war in Gaza, widespread devastation in Lebanon and a dangerous confrontation with Iran that has repeatedly brought the region to the brink of a wider catastrophe.
Escalating Where Resistance is Weakest
Trump and Netanyahu in the White House on Sept. 29, 2025. (White House/Daniel Torok)
For a time, this formula proved politically sustainable. Netanyahu successfully enlisted unwavering U.S. support to keep the fires of war burning. At the same time, the failure of Europe and much of the international community to hold a wanted war criminal accountable provided him with the political space necessary to continue his bloody calculations.
Yet that formula may be nearing its limits. While this possibility may appear encouraging, it comes with a serious warning. If Netanyahu can no longer sustain the wars that have prolonged his political life for nearly three years, he may escalate where resistance is weakest: the occupied West Bank.
Regarding Iran, there is growing recognition that the current confrontation is unsustainable indefinitely and that some form of arrangement will eventually emerge. Likewise, regardless of whether Lebanon is formally included in any future agreement, Israel’s ambition of permanently occupying parts of Lebanese territory remains untenable.
Historically, when Israel fails to secure a strategic breakthrough on one front, it seeks compensation on another — typically where Palestinians are most vulnerable and where international scrutiny is weakest.
As Israeli elections approach, it is therefore reasonable to fear a further escalation of the genocide in Gaza, pushing both the death toll and the level of destruction to new heights. According to Gaza health authorities, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire agreement was announced in October, bringing the overall death toll of Israel’s genocide in Gaza to 73,000 Palestinians.
Though Israel’s war has already failed to break Palestinian steadfastness, the broader objective remains unchanged: the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza and the transformation of the strip into a space that can no longer sustain Palestinian life.
West Bank Annexation
Israeli forces raiding Jenin, Occupied West Bank, January 2025, (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit/Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 3.0)
The West Bank, however, presents a different challenge.
There, Israel faces a fragmented political landscape and a Palestinian Authority that refuses to develop an effective strategy for confronting accelerating Israeli violence, ethnic cleansing, home demolitions, land confiscation and the relentless expansion of illegal settlements.
This vulnerability has enabled Israel to move from discussing annexation to implementing it in practice. The strategy rests on two interconnected pillars: extreme violence and displacement on the one hand and rapid settlement expansion on the other.
According to an Oxfam International study published on June 12, Israel has killed 1,244 Palestinians, including 268 children, in the occupied West Bank since 2023 — more than the total number killed during the previous 17 years combined.
This bloodshed has been accompanied by large-scale displacement that has already uprooted nearly 46,000 Palestinians, many of them from refugee camps and vulnerable communities across the northern West Bank.
An Amnesty International report published on June 10 documented the full or partial displacement of at least 117 Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities between January 2023 and April 2026.
Expectedly, the violence, displacement, settlement expansion, and land seizures are not isolated developments but components of a coherent political project. In September 2025, Smotrich openly proposed the annexation of 82 percent of the occupied West Bank. What was once presented as a political vision is now steadily being translated into facts on the ground.
The era of Netanyahu may be nearing its end, but before this bloody political chapter closes, countless more Palestinians may be forced to bear the cost.
Arab and Muslim countries, along with their allies in the international community, must not wait for Israel to launch a much larger assault on the West Bank before responding.
The matter demands urgent attention and immediate action.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a widely published and translated author, an internationally syndicated columnist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story (Pluto Press, 2018). He earned a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter (2015), and was a non-resident scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, UCSB. Visit his website.
This article is from Common Dreams.
Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Please Donate to the
Spring Fund Drive!
Thank you Ramzy, There’s no escaping Karma or Ebola once it’s phase three; recall recent superspreader events in Israel:
+ Israel’s Ministry of Health reported on Sunday a >>>>second suspected case of>>>> Ebola in a traveler who recently returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
According to the ministry, the individual arrived in Israel two days ago and later sought medical care after developing >>>>fever, headache and diarrhea.
In about 21 days…around July 4th, Ebola could rapidly take off in Israel after Somaliland visit and current JNS 2026 Intl. Jerusalem summit.
+Recall MiddleEastEye report with pic of: Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and Somaliland’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi hold up their drinks at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, 14 June, 2026
“…Acting CDC Director Dr. [delay]Jay Bhattacharya flatly denied that the foreign aid cuts harmed the Ebola response, claiming he had seen no evidence the defunding hindered containment…” wsws
Ebolamap info: hxxps://ebolamap.org/map/
Acute / GI Phase
DAYS 3–7
CONTAGIOUS
›?Profuse vomiting and watery diarrhoea ›?Severe abdominal cramps and pain ›?Diffuse maculopapular rash (trunk) ›?Persistent hiccups ›?Red eyes (conjunctival injection) ›?Chest pain and shortness of breath ›?Oedema (face, neck, scrotum) ›?Highly contagious — strict PPE required
+The US response to this manufactured crisis has been a quantifiable pittance. In mid-May, the State Department pledged a mere $23 million in emergency funding for surveillance and 50 screening and treatment clinics, followed by a $20 million pledge for preparedness in neighboring countries. wsws
+The recent SpaceX initial public offering added more than $180 billion to the personal fortune of Elon Musk in a matter of days. Two ratios capture the reality of global capitalism. That single-week windfall is 7,826 times the entire $23 million US emergency Ebola response, and roughly 400 times the approximately $450 million global funding shortfall for the continental response plan. wsws
Israel is far from done with its violence and wars. The Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, who predicts the eventual collapse of Zionism in favour of a democratic state, speaks of a difficult transition that could prove exceedingly violent and unstable in the short run. If he is correct, we appear to be in that transitional phase.
Whether this marks the end for Netanyahu and his inner circle, or whether their defeat in Iran will only push them to greater extremes, all signs suggest that further wars and instability will emanate from Israel, one way or another. Consider the recent remarks by former prime minister Naftali Bennett. While he heavily criticised Netanyahu’s “terrible failure” in the Iran war, he also argued that Tehran’s regime would be replaced following leadership changes in Israel. Does that sound like a nation that has learned anything from the conflicts it has ignited?
I think we need to acknowledge that the racist genocidal policies of Israel are an extension of those same policies of the colonialist Western governments. It would certainly explain the dogged support for the crimes of the Zionist state despite massive resistance among their populations. Those who profit mightily from this 500 year old paradigm will resort to using as much force as can be mustered to keep this deadly system in place. Humanity will have to switch its gaze from corporate culture’s ever more bright shiny distractions and get real about where all this is headed.
I appreciate how clearly you’ve laid out the reality. The scale of Palestinian suffering — the killings, the displacement, the destruction of entire communities — is intolerable and demands real accountability. What we’re witnessing isn’t random chaos but the result of unrestrained power, unresolved historical trauma, and a system built on dehumanizing an entire people. Until those forces are confronted by humanity as a whole, the catastrophe will continue. I stand with those calling for an end to this violence and for a future rooted in justice, dignity, and equal humanity for everyone.
God bless the Palestinians, and all those who have become the sacrificial ones in a world where power and corruption still eclipse our shared humanity.
Satanyahu will retire into opulent surroundings and sycophantic praise from his ilk.
Such is the legacy of greed and religion.
I’m looking forward to the day Netanyahu loses his job, and is put on trial for corruption – and then perhaps [I know, most unliklely!] sent to The Hague for trial for multiple crimes against humanity.
But I’m fearful that his replacement as PM might be far, far worse!
For some time now Norman Finkelstein has reiterated that ‘the problem’ is far greater the extremely problematic Netanyahu.
“It has to be stressed. The problem is not a genocidal regime. That’s not correct.
The problem is not a genocidal state. That’s not correct.
The problem is a genocidal society. And that’s a real problem.”
[Current Affairs, June 1,2026]
As Ramzy himself reported [Palestine Chronicle, April 23, 2026] there have been a succession of public opinion polls conducted within Israel reinforcing Finkelstein’s contention that ‘we’re’ dealing with a “genocidal society”
“An Israel Democracy Institute survey conducted on March 2–3 found that 93% of Jewish Israelis supported the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran. Support cut across all political camps.
The same enthusiasm for war accompanied the Gaza genocide and the various wars and escalations in Lebanon.”
As ‘we’ve’ continued to see, once a society or a substantial segment within, adopt notions of superiority such fallacies are difficult to erase.
Even notions thought to be in the past can rear their ugly in new guises in contemporary society.
As long as nobody is going to stop the total elimination of every Palestinian in occupied Palestinian, wouldn’t it be great ? to, at least create a colony outside of Israel’s jurisdiction, to provide at least a reservation to preserve the culture?