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| Graham Platner |
I won’t go into detail about why I reject it, other than to
say that those blaming the prime minister for increased anti-Israel sentiment
might just as well blame his political rivals, who are all eager to see him
leave. The very things related to the war in Gaza and now in Lebanon - that
have angered so many Democrats - even (and perhaps especially) Jewish Democrats
- are the same things Netanyahu’s opponents would likely have done. And are
fully aligned with. Yet those same actions are cited as proof that Netanyahu is
almost solely responsible for Israel’s negative image.
The most prominent of these accusations is the claim of
genocide by the IDF. That is the central component of the criticism. Blaming
that alleged ‘genocide’ on the conduct of the war under Netanyahu’s leadership.
But as I have noted many times - his political opponents are unified in
supporting the conduct of the war and uniformly reject the claim that there was
any genocide by the IDF. The high Palestinian casualty count in Gaza was not
due to Israeli intent. Israel took extraordinary measures to minimize civilian
casualties during its military campaign against Hamas.
The casualty figures cited by Gaza officials—and repeated by
the UN and the mainstream media - fail to distinguish between Hamas terrorists
who were targeted and civilians caught in the crossfire. Nor do they account
for the fact that Hamas embedded itself within densely populated civilian
areas, including hospitals, precisely to exploit the negative publicity Israel
would face from high civilian casualties.
Another frequent criticism of Netanyahu is his decision to form a governing coalition that included a right-wing extremist like Itamar Ben-Gvir. That concern may have some merit. But...
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