Middle East analysts dispute accusations that Netanyahu 'propped Hamas up'

A Hamas soldier & Benjamin Netanyahu

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• Middle East analysts have disputed suggestions that Netanyahu helped "prop up" Hamas.
• Netanyahu's policy toward Hamas was "a seasonal mowing of the grass rather than scorched earth."
• Netanyahu's biggest blunder was failing to foresee the Hamas invasion on October 7.

Middle East analysts have disputed charges that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "propped up" Palestinian militant group Hamas.

A Times of Israel opinion column by political correspondent Tal Schneider argued that Netanyahu "propped up" Hamas for years. "Most of the time, Israeli policy was to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset."

A columnist for Haaretz, Israel's long-established liberal newspaper, wrote that Israel sought to preserve "diplomatic paralysis" between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to avoid negotiations with the Palestinians over a two-state solution.

"Netanyahu's flawed strategy turned Hamas from a minor terrorist group into an efficient, lethal army with bloodthirsty killers who mercilessly slaughtered innocent Israeli civilians," wrote Dmitry Shumsky.

—Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) October 12, 2023

 

Laura Blumenfeld, Middle East analyst at Johns Hopkins University, argued that he didn't prop them up but didn't shut them down either. "The approach was more of a seasonal mowing of the grass rather than scorched earth," she said.

Jonathan Spyer, director of research at the Middle East Forum, told Insider that not taking a more active approach to shut down Hamas does not mean he was propping them up.

He echoed Blumenfeld's take that Netanyahu's approach to Hamas was more passive than reported by The Times of Israel and Haaretz, saying that at worst, "Netanyahu didn't mind there being a division in Palestinian politics," but "could he have reversed it? I don't believe he could."

"Netanyahu has never said he prefers Hamas, so people are extrapolating from his supposed behavior," Spyer said. 

Spyer argued that Hamas' control of Gaza stems from the split in Palestinian politics, which precedes Netanyahu by two years. 

"Israel has been fighting five fires with one hose," Blumenfeld told Insider, referring to Israel navigating relationships with Gaza, the West Bank, Tehran, and Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon. She said that every Israeli government has had to "balance threats."

Spyer told Insider that he believes Netanyahu could not himself have brought about Palestinian reconciliation and that the Israeli government sought to coexist with Hamas. 

Yohanan Plesner, a former lawmaker and head of the Jerusalem-based think tank the Israel Democracy Institute, told The Wall Street Journal that Netanyahu had propped up Hamas and pursued a divide-and-conquer strategy while simultaneously undermining the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

"It was ideology at the expense of security," Plesner told The Wall Street Journal.

Blumenfeld said that it was a mistake to "take a rational approach to an irrational ideological terrorist group," adding that "Hamas can't be bought off," referring to years of policy she summarized as "targeted assassinations paired with economic incentives and work permits."

Spyer and Blumenfeld said Netanyahu's government's biggest mistake was failing to foresee the attacks on Saturday. Spyer said Hamas had successfully "lulled" Israel into a "false sense of security" and that the failure to intercept the attacks would go down as Netanyahu's biggest blunder, not the perceived bolstering of Hamas in the years prior. 

Israelis want Netanyahu gone — poll

Palestinians transport a captured Israeli civilian from Kibbutz Kfar Azza into the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023.

Hatem Ali/AP

Netanyahu's political future is hanging in the balance following the Hamas invasion of southern Israel, facing the blame for the massive security failure that allowed the unprecedented wave of attacks.

Almost 56% of Israelis want Netanyahu to resign, according to a new poll, which surveyed 620 Israeli Jews.

An overwhelming 86% of respondents said the surprise Hamas attacks on Israel were a failure of Netanyahu's government, and 94% said the country's leadership must bear some responsibility for failing to intercept the assault.

Those calling for Netanyahu's resignation also drew 28% of people who voted for his coalition government, which includes ministers from far-right political parties.

Netanyahu, who heads the right-wing nationalist Likud party, is Israel's longest-serving prime minister.

Netanyahu's leadership has been marred by controversy in recent years. He is facing charges of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes in three separate scandals involving powerful media moguls and wealthy associates. He denies wrongdoing. 

 

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