"Let Rome burn"
says Benny Gantz, one of the pillars of the Israeli opposition and leader of the National Unity Party, commenting on the war reaching its 600th day.
“We have moved from the Six-Day War to the Six-Hundred-Day War. This war was supposed to end within six months at most. But now, it clearly serves other political goals.”
This statement was chosen among dozens of others to build this analysis for several reasons. Gantz was inside the decision-making kitchen—he joined the war cabinet and closely followed the day-to-day military operations since the early days following October 7. He is also a former Chief of Staff and former Minister of Defense—no one is more qualified to speak on such matters.
The most important reason for focusing on this statement is the need, in analyzing events, to avoid falling into the trap of confusing internal political bickering in Israel with genuine disagreements in political and strategic vision. The latter are usually hidden for as long as possible under wide-scale media deception. Unfortunately, many Arab analysts—especially those fueled by illusions and wishful thinking—base their analyses on Israeli political quarrels and rarely arrive at accurate conclusions. They prefer to believe only what aligns with their desires. As a result, they convinced the masses that Hezbollah is invincible, that Hamas has superpowers, that a ground invasion of Gaza is impossible, that the Iranian axis is now a true strategic deterrent to Israel—something that will soon reshape the region.
Before October 7, Netanyahu’s hallmark policy was to keep fronts quiet, avoid prolonged wars, and forge economic-driven ties with Arab states. He aimed to penetrate Arab markets by any means while maintaining political stagnation on the Palestinian front, betting that this stagnation would gradually lead to the natural extinction of the Palestinian cause. He did everything possible to maintain the political and geographical split between the West Bank and Gaza—supporting Hamas rule and keeping it alive—contrary to the Palestinian Authority’s approach of trying to isolate and pressure the Gaza rulers in hopes of national reunification.
Some Arab parties colluded with Netanyahu's plan under the guise of "lifting the siege." The infamous Qatari cash suitcases became a known symbol of this policy—an explicit price paid to kill the Palestinian state project. Netanyahu even publicly admitted as much when cornered by his rivals in Israel.
What Netanyahu never imagined was that, despite all he did for Hamas, it was secretly planning his political destruction. Now, he is the number one accused in the eyes of the Israeli public—criticized even by his own former allies, those who warned him, and those who pushed for targeted assassinations that he refused. In an effort to erase this legacy from collective memory, he now positions himself as the ultimate hardliner calling for Hamas's eradication—at any cost, even costs Israel cannot afford. He dreams that history will forget he enabled Hamas’s rule and will remember him as the one who eradicated it from political discourse entirely.
The hostage crisis has played a decisive role in slowing military operations. What made it worse was the volume of videos released by Palestinian resistance factions—removing all ambiguity about the hostages’ fate, contrary to Netanyahu’s hopes. If he could have rid himself of this burden, he would have. The scale of Israeli airstrikes in the first hours and days was immense—nearly indiscriminate. But the resistance groups knew from the start that keeping hostages alive would be the most effective leverage. As such, military planning has consistently taken this factor into account.
Some may think Hamas could still maintain a military, political, or even popular presence near Gaza’s border settlements. But for Israel's establishment, this is utterly unacceptable. The prolonged war is fundamentally intended to dismantle every structure Hamas has built over 18 years—not only its military and governmental wings, but also mosques, municipalities, civil defense, ambulances, charities, international NGO staff, and university professors. It’s undoubtedly a complex task that will require much more time.
The ongoing destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure confirms the strategic intent of Israel’s so-called “Government of Legends.” Ultimately, the goal is to make Gaza an unlivable place. When people lose their homes, workplaces, children’s schools, hospitals, and relief centers—and when their personal safety is threatened not only by Israeli attacks but also by lawlessness and armed criminal gangs—remaining becomes unthinkable.
Netanyahu will not allow the Government of Legends to collapse prematurely. If it falls before the situation in Gaza is resolved, the entire right-wing project—and its dreams—will collapse for years to come. Any future government will certainly not be of the same ideological bent. Israeli politics would then likely shift back to the center, possibly with international and Arab encouragement, to seek compromises that would shatter the right’s dream of a sovereign Israel from the river to the sea.
There is no doubt that Netanyahu, as he manages the Gaza war, is deeply mindful of his personal fate. Under his leadership, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust occurred. No matter how much he tries to deflect blame onto the security establishment, this stain will follow him forever. Add to this the corruption charges he's facing—allegations of personal misconduct, dirty money, and bad governance—and he becomes the first Israeli Prime Minister to simultaneously fail on security, politics, and personal integrity. It’s a catastrophic downfall for a man who once dubbed himself the Emperor of Security and Economy.
The social collapse and erosion of moral and national values are also part of his strategy. Extreme hunger, displacement, and insecurity push people toward seeking safe havens. This creates space for local structures aligned with the occupation. Out of desperation, many will engage with these formations, leading to gradual social normalization—internal division, and civil conflict. This would fatally fracture the Palestinian national project.
Netanyahu knows that only the Israeli army can dismantle Hamas. He cannot rely on others to do it for him anymore. All current proposals—such as Hamas stepping down or forming local administrative bodies under Egyptian sponsorship—are illusions. Hamas would easily sideline and sabotage such arrangements. Netanyahu knows this better than anyone; after all, he gave Hamas the very tools to do so, including media narratives delegitimizing the Palestinian Authority’s return to Gaza.
He believes the events of October 7 gave him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—one he’ll exploit to the fullest. This is now an existential battle. He invokes religious language and sacred narratives in every speech, confirming his path. He believes that by demolishing refugee camps, halting UN agencies, and depopulating Gaza, he can erase the refugee issue from the international agenda. He also believes reoccupying Gaza and annexing parts of the West Bank will kill the two-state solution forever.
He races against time in a losing battle against everything that reminds him of past delusions—economic peace, normalization without cost, prosperity. All now appear as a burning mirage.
If this is the fate of political fortunes and their flip-flops—then let everything burn.
He recites outdated slogans, dredges up the archives of Israel’s past failures, and chooses the worst among them. He arms thieves, drug addicts, outlaws, and social misfits to rule Gaza. He ignores all warnings about the danger of this path. He neither hears nor sees anything outside his own imagination: Gaza leveled, people starving and sick, chaos, civil wars.
Even his former ally of convenience, Elon Musk, now casts him into the shadows of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
This says it all.
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