On Monday, the Israeli military ordered Palestinians in the city of Rafah to evacuate ahead of airstrikes, which unleashed fears that Israel was starting a ground invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city, where 1.4 million Palestinians have taken shelter. Hours later, Hamas announced that it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal outlined by Egypt and Qatar. But the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, rejected the deal and doubled down on his plan to invade Rafah and achieve “total victory” against Hamas.

It was a dizzying day in Israel’s brutal seven-month war on Gaza. But one thing was clear: Netanyahu does not want to end the war – and he’s doing all he can to undermine negotiations for a ceasefire and an agreement to release the remaining hostages held by Hamas since its 7 October attack on Israel. Netanyahu and his extremist allies fear that once the war ends, they will face early parliamentary elections and multiple investigations into the government’s intelligence failures leading up to the Hamas attacks.

Netanyahu and his Likud party are likely to lose any upcoming elections, and once he’s out of power, Netanyahu faces a long-delayed corruption trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust for acts he allegedly committed during earlier stints as prime minister. Netanyahu is a political survivor who has put his personal interests above all else. He is the longest-serving premier in Israel’s history, having served for more than 16 years over multiple terms since 1996.

It’s clear why Netanyahu would want to prolong a ruthless war to cling to power and avoid accountability. It’s less clear why Joe Biden would risk his own political future on unconditional support for Netanyahu and his extremist government.

After 7 October, the US president announced his absolute support for Israel and embraced Netanyahu in a bear hug during a visit to Tel Aviv. Since then, the prime minister has consistently embarrassed and broken his promises to Israel’s most important ally without paying a price. For months, Biden and his top aides complained about Netanyahu and the horrific number of Palestinian........

© The Guardian