Jerusalem (AP) – When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered this week Assassination From Hamas leaders in Qatar, he took a great gamble in his campaign to eliminate the group.
With signs of growth that failed the task, those gambling It seems that it has led to reverse results.
Netanyahu was hoping to kill Hamas’s great exile leaders to approach his vision of “complete victory” against the militant group that attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, and pressed it to surrender after that Almost two years of war In the Gaza Strip.
Instead, Hamas claims that its leaders have survived, and took Netanyahu’s global position, which has already been severely affected by scenes of destruction and humanitarian disasters in Gaza, another success.
On Tuesday, the air strike was angry, Qatar, an influential American ally who was a major mediator throughout the war, and attracted great criticism throughout the Arab world. She also has Tense relationships with the White House Its hopes of reaching the ceasefire were thrown into a state of chaos, which may endanger the twentieth hostage, which is still believed to be alive in Gaza.
But while the strike represents a setback in favor of Netanyahu, the Israeli leader does not show any sign of retreat or stopping the war. With his hardline alliance, he is still firmly behind him, Netanyahu does not face any immediate threat to his rule.
Netanyahu’s hope for “Victory of Victory” for his government
Five members of the low -level Hamas and the Qatari security guard were killed in the strike. But Hamas said that the intended goal, as senior exiled leaders succeeded in discussing the ceasefire proposal in the United States, all of them survived. However, the group did not issue any pictures of the leaders, and Qatar did not comment on their circumstances.
Harril Corhev, an expert in Arab affairs at Tel Aviv University, said that if the air strike had killed the High Command, the attack could have provided an opportunity to announce the destruction of Hamas.
“Everything is very symbolic and it is definitely part of the thing that allows Netanyahu at a certain stage to say,” We won, we have killed them all. “
Israel’s 23 -month attack in Gaza has destroyed all the Huma leadership in the region. But Netanyahu began eliminating the group as part of his goal of “complete victory”.
This now seems increasingly unlikely, making it difficult for Netanyahu to pay a ceasefire through the solid line coalition.
Members of the ruling coalition in Israel surrounded Netanyahu, and threatened to bring down his government unless Israel enters an expanded operation in Gaza City, despite the dangerous dangers by many in the military leadership and the wide opposition between the masses of Israel.
A successful operation in Qatar could allow Netanyahu to disinfect militants, although it would have eliminated officials responsible for negotiating the ceasefire.
Burning the channel with Qatar
Choriv said that Israel has the ability to target Hamas leaders in Doha since the beginning of the war, but it did not want to anticipate the Qataris during the negotiations.
Qatar helped negotiate two former stops that fired 148 hostages, including eight bodies, compared to thousands of Palestinian prisoners. The Israel Army saved only eight hostages alive, and they recovered the bodies of 51 hostages.
While Israel complained that Qatar was not pressing Hamas, it continued to leave that channel open – until Tuesday.
“Israel informed, of the attack, the whole world was that he abandoned negotiations,” Corhev said. “They decided to burn the channel with Qatar.”
When asked whether the ceasefire talks will continue, the Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said that after the strike, “I do not think that there is anything good” in the current talks. But he did not explain and stopped saying Qatar will end the mediation efforts.
How Netanyahu hopes to win the release of the remaining hostages.
On Thursday, Sheikh Muhammad accused Israel of abandoning the hostages.
“The extremists who rule Israel today do not care about the hostages – otherwise, how do we justify the timing of this attack?” Sheikh Muhammad told the United Nations Security Council.
However, he said that his country is ready to resume its mediation without giving any indication of the following steps. On Friday, Sheikh Mohamed met in Washington with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was scheduled to visit Israel this week in a sign of how to try Trump’s administration The balance of relations between the main Middle East allies.
Tense relations with the United States
It seems that Netanyahu, who has received iron support from the United States since President Donald Trump’s return to his post, has been tense with his most important ally.
Trump said he was “very happy” about the air strike and confirmed that such an attack would not happen again.
However, Trump did not say whether he would take any punitive action against Israel or indicated that he would pressure Netanyahu to stop the war.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu is still unwanted and threatened additional measures if Qatar continues to host Hamas leadership.
He said on Thursday: “There is no place we cannot reach,” he said on Thursday.
A little effect on the war in Gaza
Israel pressures its expanded attack, which aims to conquer Gaza City. The army urged the full evacuation of the area, which carries about one million people before the expected invasion.
“The Netanyahu government is determined to continue the military operation in Gaza,” said Gayel Talcher, a political scientist at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
She said that Israel ignored calls to stop the war from the United Nations and the European Union and a growing number of major Western countries planning to recognize a Palestinian state in the United Nations Security Council later this month.
She added that the only person who may be able to change this path is Trump, by telling Israel “enough”.
Netanyahu’s political future is not threatened
If Hamas leaders survive, and negotiations have collapsed, Netanyahu will isolate nearly two -thirds of the Israeli public who want to end the war and an agreement to bring hostages to the homeland.
But that opposition was in place for several months, with a little effect on Netanyahu.
“The future of Netanyahu is not dependent on the short term on the Israeli public,” said Johanan Pleachrir, head of the Israel Democracy Institute, a research center in Jerusalem.
Instead, his political survival depends on his ruling alliance, many of whom expressed completely support for the assassination attempt.
This panic and the most suffering of the families of the hostages who are still detained in Gaza.
“He shakes fear” after hearing about Israel’s attack in Doha.
“Why does the Prime Minister insist on bombing every chance of a deal?” I asked, on the verge of tears. “Why?”
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