Two Palestinian resistance fighters attacked an IDF West Bank checkpoint yesterday, killing two soldiers and wounding others. Netanyahu, facing an election in days, reacted in fury. He promised to mobilize an attack throughout the Territories that would rival the 1967 War, when 300,000 Palestinians were expelled to Jordan:
Netanyahu promised a major IDF operation in the West Bank, “of a scale not seen since the Six-Day War. The IDF is ready to carry it out. We will determine the timing, but it is coming,” he said.
He indicated that the new plan would be based on a model adopted from a massive 2025 attack on Jenin, in which 33,000 residents were expelled and their homes destroyed. Hebron is the largest Palestinian town in the West Bank, with 250,000 inhabitants. It would dwarf the ethnic cleansing in Jenin.
Netanyahu did not say–but it is clearly implied–that this is an extension of the process in Gaza of expulsion and genocide, that has turned the vast majority of residents into refugees in their own land.
Itamar Ben-Gvir offers a blueprint for this ethnic genocide he calls Disengagement 710:
…He would encourage millions of Palestinians who have lived in the West Bank for generations to pack up and go. “We want sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, where we also want voluntary emigration,” he says. “Just so we understand, we want voluntary emigration—not kicking anyone out.”
The disingenuousness of that statement is manifest.
The Ben Gvir model would dump Palestinians in undisclosed countries. None have agreed to accept them. He might as well get a few cargo ships, stuff a few hundred thousand people into them, and dump them in the middle of the Mediterranean. If he could get away with it, he would. If he could get away with burning their corpses to cinders en masse, he would. If he could get away with being an Israeli Hitler, he would. After all, as various Israeli MKs and rabbis have said: “Hitler had some good ideas.”
Without doubt, Netanyahu intends to eradicate a considerable portion of the inhabited Palestinian West Bank. Tens or hundreds of thousands will become internal refugees. Add them to the hundreds of thousands in Gaza and you have the largest mass expulsion since the Nakba.
How will the world react? Will it escalate sanctions it has begun to impose? Twelve nations have already done so. Or will it ignore the inconvenient facts as it has done since 10/7?
Countries imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements have demanded an end to settler violence. Clearly, this has fallen on deaf Israeli ears. Will they up the ante or remain frozen by their own inertia?
Netanyahu is a shameless narcissist, prepared to sacrifice Israeli lives for the sake of his own power. He did this with the hostages, whom Hamas offered to release weeks after 10/7. He preferred that they die in order to continue the genocide, which was supported by the majority of Israelis. 15 of the 250 were killed by the IDF or during army attacks–26 others may have also been similarly killed though this hasn’t been established conclusively. Now, he is exploiting another Israeli tragedy to eradicate the Palestinian presence in vast swaths of the West Bank.
He works every angle for personal advantage. This West Bank attack offers him yet another opportunity. An IDF counter offensive there will resonate with his far-right Likud supporters. They will answer the call and come out in droves. The more guns, the more bullets, the more blood, the better his voters like it. That’s how he expects to win his sixth term. Polls say it will likely fail, as his coalition only musters 50 seats. However, Israeli polls are notoriously volatile and inaccurate. Also, if the Oppositions cannot form a coalition, the opportunity falls to Netanyahu.
Here in America, we were shocked at how easily Trump and MAGA have destroyed the pillars of democracy and the Constitution, hallowed traditions for 250 years. In Israel, democracy such as it was, has been whisked away by a few sweeps of Bibi’s broom. It is quite an achievement for him. To single-handedly destroy traditions and norms developed over the 75 years of Israel’s existence. All for the purpose of retaining power and staying out of prison. In all the history of dictators, tyrants and sociopaths, Netanyahu occupies a place of honor.
A closing word: I do not call the Palestinian attack “terrorism.” I call it legitimate armed resistance against foreign occupation, as endorsed repeatedly by the UN General Assembly. When one nation commits genocide against another as Israel is and has, the victims are entitled to resist by any and all means necessary. The world should expect no less. It is clear who the real terrorists are.
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