Support in Israel for Genocide Effort Nearly Universal

July 28th, 2014

David Schulberg

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is stuck between mounting international outcry over civilian casualties from his assault on the Gaza Strip and intensifying calls at home to finish the job he started.

Several of his top ministers are pushing for a full takeover of Gaza, which the prime minister has opposed, while even Israel’s allies, led by Secretary of State John Kerry, have demanded an immediate halt to hostilities. Many Israelis, feeling more isolated than ever and outraged over the anti-Semitic tinge of pro-Palestinian demonstrations around the world, are wary of walking away before the tunnels into their territory uncovered by troops have been destroyed.

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Michael B. Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, invoked the Hebrew phrase “Im kvar az kvar,” roughly akin to “in for a dime, in for a dollar.”

“If we’re getting slammed, we might as well go all the way,” Mr. Oren said to sum up the Israeli mood.

“One of the big checks on Israel has been the fear of being isolated, the fear of being branded as immoral,” he said. “It’s having the exact opposite impact on policy — rather than being a check, it’s being a catalyst, it’s a motivating factor.”

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“I can only compliment him, unfortunately,” said Yaakov Peri, a centrist minister and previous Netanyahu critic who sits in on the sessions. “It seems the steering is in the right hand in this conflict.”

Wars often quell political division, but Mr. Peri and others were still impressed by the breadth of backing. A poll of Israeli Jews conducted for Channel 2 News on Wednesday showed more than 8 in 10 were satisfied with Mr. Netanyahu, a 25 point jump from before the ground invasion began.

Over the past week, Mr. Netanyahu met in Israel with Mr. Kerry, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations and the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Italy and Norway. He visited troops preparing to enter Gaza on Monday, and those hospitalized with battle wounds on Tuesday. He did satellite interviews with four American news networks and two British channels that broadcast in Arabic over two days. (His office declined a request for an interview for this article.)

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Yaakov Amidror, who served in the military with Mr. Netanyahu in 1969 and was his national security adviser until November, called him “a guy who has a historical view of events.”

“He understands that one of the most important differences between the past and the present is the ability of Jews to defend themselves,” Mr. Amidror said, using a frequent Netanyahu trope that has disappeared from his discourse these days. “If he feels that Israel might endanger its ability to defend itself because of the international community, he will decide to use the capabilities of Israel even against the international community.”