At the time of writing, Israel’s seemingly interminable war on Gaza had entered Day #655. The devastation defies description. More than 60,000 people have been killed. Gaza lies in ruins, its population of two million driven to starvation and disease, in what the United Nations calls a man-made humanitarian catastrophe.

Even the White House now describes Israel’s campaign as ‘brutal’. On 21 July, a coalition of 25 countries — including the UK, France and nearly all of Western Europe (except Germany) besides Canada and Japan — issued a joint declaration that the war in Gaza ‘must end now’. They have condemned Israel’s aid blockade and the killing of civilians trying to reach food and water, calling its conduct ‘inhumane’ and ‘unacceptable’.

Yet the war grinds on. Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich calls Gaza an inseparable part of the State of Israel and asks for a “security annexation” of northern Gaza Strip.

Why? The answer lies not in military calculations or a national security doctrine but in the personal political calculus of one man — Benjamin Netanyahu.

Despite Israel’s growing isolation and the public outcry from Western capitals, Netanyahu continues to prosecute the war in Gaza with unyielding force. Hamas has been decimated and Israeli hostages are still hostages. But the war has become a political lifeline for Netanyahu.

He faces criminal charges at home, public support is declining, and dissent is growing within his cabinet and the military. Netanyahu is using the war as a political shield. Crucially, he has calculated — correctly so far — that while the West may condemn him in words, it will not cut off the material support he needs to keep the war going.

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© National Herald