Biden, if You Really Want to Understand Netanyahu, Listen to What He Says in Hebrew [View all]

[Israeli]

For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Philadelphi route in Gaza is now the fastest way out of any possible cease-fire and hostage deal. The U.S. administration would know that if it paid more attention to his Hebrew speeches over the past months

Haaretz | Israel News
by Alon Pinkas
Sep 5, 2024

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks Hebrew and English fluently – yet things get lost in translation when he deliberately says different things to different audiences.
One of his most prominent political-rhetorical characteristics is that on the same topic and issue, the Hebrew and the English texts are not compatible. What is truly odd is that the only ones who do not seem aware or alert to his linguistic discrepancies are the Americans.

They should know by now that going back to a used car dealership and buying a car without an engine from the same salesman who sold you a car without the wheels is not savvy policy. But this week, even the inconsistencies in his Hebrew and English speeches proved the same thing: he has no intention whatsoever of reaching any kind of hostage-release deal.

Any agreement – assuming Hamas even accepts one, which Netanyahu is counting on them not to – that would mean the de facto end of the war is unacceptable to him. He needs the war to go on, motivated by his political survival and callosity toward the hostages and their families. Still, it is worthwhile looking at the gaps between his two lectures.

Take for example the Philadelphi route, that 14-kilometer (8-mile) stretch at the southern tip of Gaza that separates the Strip from Egypt. As his most novel excuse and pretext to evade a hostage deal and cease-fire, Netanyahu – who spent his childhood in Philadelphia – had a eureka moment: Turn it into a strategic, existential issue.

Continued @ : https://archive.md/KFWgB#selection-1175.0-1283.298
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