In resorting to desperate measures to remain in office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu is threatening to unleash civil war in his country and a broader war in the region, including against Iran. As crowds surge into Israeli streets in protest, commentators quibble over which of his many outrageous acts they are demonstrating against the most vehemently:

In the third week of March 2025, Netanyahu broke the Gaza ceasefire deal and started sending IDF troops back into Gaza, with corpses piling up, women and children fleeing, and all aid cut off;

Family members of hostages have accused the Prime Minister of endangering the lives of those still held captive by escalating the war against the Palestinian Hamas Movement;

Netanyahu is trying to fire Ronen Bar, the chief of the internal security service Shin Bet. When Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara accused him of acting above the law, his allies began to move to oust the attorney general, as well. The underlying issue is the PM’s attempt to disrupt an investigation into large sums of money from Qatar pocketed by his aides, at a time when Netanyahu himself is facing corruption charges;

Extremists in the War Cabinet, Bezalel Yoel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, are escalating a push to “transfer” Palestinians from Israel’s occupied territories. Finance Minister Smotrich is “legalising” settlements, in flagrant violation of international law, claiming that “annexation” is an “important step on the path to sovereignty”;

When asked about the growing opposition to his government, Netanyahu played his “Trump card”, asserting that he, like the US President, was under attack from “leftist Deep State” operatives.

Netanyahu obviously believes that being a “war-time” leader gives him protection, as the one standing up to defend Israel against terrorists and anti-Semites. Further, support from Donald John Trump has convinced him, and some of the Israeli public, that all is well and they can continue.

However, there are signs that Trump’s support is not limitless. Within his own movement, there is growing dissatisfaction over his seemingly open-ended backing of the Israeli Prime Minister and government. “America Firsters” in the MAGA coalition have expressed unhappiness over US bombing attacks on Yemen, and the billions of Dollars of aid to Israel, while the neocons, Christian Zionists and those seeking war with Iran applaud the policy. Firm supporters of Trump, such as Tucker Carlson, Ron Paul and Majorie Taylor Greene, have begun to criticise him, with Carlson arguing that Trump’s Israel policy contradicts his “America First” message.

The Trump Administration is also under attack for cracking down on free speech and freedom of assembly under the guise of combating anti-Semitism. A case in point is the famous Columbia University in New York City, which gave in to the government’s demands to repress pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including the expulsion of students, to name a provost to control Middle East Studies, etc., to prevent attacks on Israel. In return, the university hopes the federal funding that had been cut would be restored.

Moreover, President Trump’s decision to dispatch the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to the region, at a time when leaks of “war plans” have been made public, is distracting attention away from the importance of his commendable policy of normalisation of ties with Russia, and ending the proxy war in Ukraine.

A sinking Netanyahu is, thus, threatening to pull Donald Trump down with him.

This article was first published in Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) Strategic Alert weekly newsletter (Volume 39, No. 13) on March 27, 2025.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin

Contact: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das