Hostage Deaths Fuel Israelis' Doubts About Netanyahu
Source: New York Times
Hostage Deaths Fuel Israelis’ Doubts About Netanyahu
Steven Erlanger
Updated Mon, December 18, 2023 at 7:41 AM EST·7 min read
In the face of increasing pressure from the United States, Britain and Germany, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on his opposition to what these allies see as the future of the Gaza Strip: an interim government overseen by the Palestinian Authority and an eventual Palestinian state existing alongside Israel.
Speaking only hours after the army admitted to shooting three Israeli hostages as they held up a white flag in Gaza, fueling consternation and anger among Israelis, Netanyahu appeared to be trying to change the subject, boasting that he had prevented the creation of a Palestinian state in the past and would continue to do so.
“I’m proud that I prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state because today everybody understands what that Palestine state could have been,” he said at a news conference Saturday night. “Now that we’ve seen the little Palestinian state in Gaza, everyone understands what would have happened if we had capitulated to international pressures and enabled a state like that” on the West Bank.
Netanyahu is hoping to hold on to power after the war, despite popular fury that Hamas built itself into a military power and invaded Israel on his watch. To do that, he is trying to appeal to Israelis, including his Likud party and its far-right coalition partners, who mistrust the Palestinians now more than ever and argue that a two-state solution is a dangerous fantasy.
But as the war continues without resolution, the deaths mount, ...
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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/hostage-deaths-fuel-israelis-doubts-123945163.html
Original NYT link (paywall): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/17/world/middleeast/netanyahu-israel-gaza-hostages-politics.html
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