Netanyahu’s speech on Saturday made his strategy clear

In an unusual move, Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Israeli people on Saturday evening, at the end of the Sabbath. This suggested that he was about to talk about a very serious matter. What did he say?

He denied any possibility of a prisoner exchange deal and announced that he would continue the war with greater force until Hamas is eliminated, and complete victory is achieved, in order to prevent a repeat of what happened on 7 October, 2023. He claimed that Hamas did not want a deal, and that it was the one creating obstacles by requiring the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. He said that this wouldn’t happen because if they were to withdraw, what would’ve been the point of going in?

This is his response to the recordings released by the resistance movement from time to time, which aim to mobilise the Israeli public to put pressure on the occupation government and Trump to reach a deal to end the war. It is also a response to the families of the captives and prisoners who are demanding a deal and claim that increased military pressure will force Hamas to accept Netanyahu’s conditions, which are the release of the captives, the disarming of Hamas and unconditional surrender.

“Disarmament” has become a pretext for continuing the war on several fronts. In Lebanon, the Israeli prime minister is demanding that Hezbollah’s heavy weapons be handed over and that the Lebanese state does the same. He wants to see a Lebanese civil war allowing him to remain in strategic positions in the south. He is also demanding that southern Syria be disarmed to justify Israel’s aggression and expansion.

Moreover, Israel is demanding that Egypt withdraw military equipment from Sinai that it no longer needs, given that the Egyptian army has finished fighting “terrorists” in Sinai, and after the regime in Cairo intensified its siege on the Gaza Strip and expanded the border wall to prevent smuggling to and from the enclave. Since Egypt has rejected displacement, there is no need for more forces than those agreed upon at Camp David to remain there. The occupation state may even turn a blind eye if Egypt joins the US in fighting the Houthis under the pretext of restoring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.

The Israeli occupation regime, led by Netanyahu, wants a new Middle East free of weapons.

Except, of course, in those states that cooperate with the occupation and with the larger declared project of Palestinian displacement.

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The latter requires more chaos in the region. Egypt proposes disarming the resistance, which basically means the annihilation of the resistance groups or their withdrawal as they raise white flags in surrender, under Egyptian, Arab and American sponsorship. This will be seen as a lesson to anyone considering resistance against military occupation.

Officially, Egypt claims to reject displacement, despite its support for eliminating the resistance. This is what its officials mean when, in every statement and meeting with any foreign or Arab official, they mention “combatting terrorism”. The Egyptian leadership can evade its complicity in the genocidal war with the absurd assertion that “Egypt will not fight the wars of others” and that “Egypt will not drink Hamas’s Kool-Aid”, but at the same time, it cannot accept displacement.

Jordan can similarly suppress any popular movement supporting the resistance under various pretexts.

It can also participate in confronting Houthi attacks, but it cannot accept the displacement of Palestinians to its territory, because this poses a threat to the Hashemite Kingdom.

Forced displacement requires committing war crimes and massacres even greater than those currently taking place. This requires even greater chaos than what is currently prevailing. Netanyahu seeks to achieve this by continuing the horrific massacres in the Gaza Strip, giving settlers free rein in the West Bank, marginalising the role of the Ramallah Authority to zero, continuing his aggression against Lebanon and Syria, and threatening Iran. In his speech, he threatened that he would not allow Iran to continue its nuclear programme.

Israel cannot attack Iranian nuclear sites without US coordination and partnership.

He hopes that this threat will push the Trump administration not to sign an agreement with Iran, because Tehran will refuse to halt its nuclear programme completely and may only accept to do so partially. It is negotiating to reduce its programme in exchange for lifting sanctions, not to completely stop it.

Netanyahu is urging Trump to launch a powerful military strike against Iran, dismantling its conventional missile capabilities, not just its nuclear programme. He is hinting that he might take the risk and ignite a war, thus involving America and the region in an uncertain war, the outcome of which is unpredictable, as are the military and economic consequences.

The Israeli leader’s strategy is clear: anything to continue the genocidal war leading to displacement and expanding the scope of the war as much as possible, to fulfil the biblical prophecies of “Greater Israel” and the building of the Temple. He has come to see himself as the historical leader who will realise this Zionist dream, given the presence of a vast number of petty rulers acting as his accomplices across the region.

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Translated from  Arab48, 20 April 2025

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.