Benjamin Netanyahu: The man willing to burn it all down just to survive
After years of conflict, one question hangs over Netanyahu’s legacy: How much destruction can a leader justify in the name of security before the pursuit of security itself becomes indistinguishable from the pursuit of power?
The phone call lasted only a few minutes, but it captured the political reality surrounding Benjamin Netanyahu better than any diplomatic communique ever could.
"You're f**king crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this."
The words came from US President Donald Trump on 1 June after Israel struck Lebanon, threatening delicate negotiations aimed at preventing a wider regional conflict.
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Whether viewed as a moment of frustration or a remarkable diplomatic rupture, the message was unmistakable. The leader who had long been regarded as one of Israel's strongest allies was reportedly telling Netanyahu what many of his critics had been saying for years: the Israeli prime minister had become a liability.
That liability extends far beyond Israel's borders. The argument is: over the past decade, and especially since October 2023, Netanyahu has transformed from a security-minded politician into a leader whose overriding objective is no longer national security but political survival — at the cost of thousands of lives.
Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history. He has survived electoral defeats, corruption investigations, political rebellions and international criticism. Survival itself has become the purpose of his politics.
According to reports by Al Jazeera, more than 72,775 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza siege began following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023. More than 21,289 of those killed were children. More than 170,000 people have been injured.
Israel suffered around 1,200 deaths during the 7 October attacks, while more than 240 people were taken hostage. Since then, over 800 Israeli soldiers have been killed and more than 5,400 wounded in military operations.
The sheer scale of destruction has left Gaza physically shattered and politically transformed. Yet for the world, the most troubling question is not how the war began, but why it has continued for so long despite repeated opportunities to halt it.
The answer repeatedly returns to politics.
Netanyahu has faced corruption charges since 2020 involving allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. His legal troubles coincided with one of the most unstable periods in Israeli political history.
According to Israeli investigative journalist Ronen Bergman, writing in The New York Times, "Netanyahu repeatedly rejected opportunities for ceasefires and de-escalation because maintaining his coalition and preserving his rule took precedence over other considerations."
Bergman concluded that Netanyahu placed "the integrity of the coalition, the safety of his continuous rule of the government and the state as a first priority ahead of any other priority".
That assessment helps explain a pattern that has become increasingly difficult to ignore.
An investigation by Israel's Channel 13 reportedly found that Netanyahu, together with far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, systematically obstructed Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
Former US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller later acknowledged that Washington knew Israel was undermining ceasefire efforts. Conditions would suddenly change, he told The New York Times, sometimes while American negotiators were already travelling to advance agreements.
Again and again, negotiations appeared close. Again and again, they collapsed.
The conclusion is obvious: war has become politically useful for Netanyahu.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) added another layer to that debate on 21 November 2024 when it issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and then-defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to Gaza.
The warrants represented an extraordinary moment in modern diplomacy. Rarely has a sitting leader of a close Western ally faced such international legal scrutiny.
Yet the war continued.
When a ceasefire collapsed in March 2025 and military operations resumed, the world saw another example of a recurring pattern. Negotiations would emerge, expectations would rise, and then violence would return.
The pattern became even clearer when Netanyahu publicly outlined his vision for Gaza's future.
Speaking at a conference, he confirmed that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to take control of 70% of the Gaza Strip.
The figure was significant.
Israeli forces already maintained control over large sections of the territory. Expanding that control to 70% would leave Gaza's 2.2 million Palestinians confined to approximately 109 square kilometres.
When audience members called for complete control, Netanyahu responded: "First 70%. We'll start with that."
At the same time, his defence minister promoted what officials described as a "voluntary emigration" programme. Human rights organisations and independent analysts argued that such proposals amounted to ethnic cleansing by another name.
Meanwhile, according to Gaza's Government Media Office, Israeli violations of the October ceasefire exceeded 3,000 incidents. More than 922 Palestinians were reportedly killed after the ceasefire came into force.
These developments reflected a deeper truth.
Those ceasefires under Netanyahu increasingly functioned not as pathways to peace but as pauses before the next escalation.
The pattern extends well beyond Gaza.
Long before October 2023, Netanyahu had built his political identity around military confrontation.
In October 2012, Israeli aircraft struck Sudan's Yarmouk military complex.
Weeks later came Operation Pillar of Defence in Gaza, which left approximately 160 to 170 Palestinians dead and more than 1,200 wounded. Six Israelis were killed.
From 2013 onwards, Netanyahu authorised the campaign known as the "War Between Wars" in Syria. Hundreds of strikes targeted Iranian positions, weapons convoys and military infrastructure. Over the course of a decade, hundreds of Syrian soldiers, Iranian military advisers and Hezbollah operatives were killed.
Then came Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
The 50-day conflict left more than 2,100 Palestinians dead. United Nations estimates suggested up to 70% of those killed were civilians. More than 10,000 were wounded, and roughly 500,000 people were displaced as entire neighbourhoods were reduced to rubble.
Israel lost 73 people, including 67 soldiers.
The cycle repeated itself in 2021 during Operation Guardian of the Walls. Eleven days of fighting left 256 Palestinians dead, including 66 children, and approximately 2,000 injured. Thirteen Israelis were killed.
Alongside these operations ran a parallel campaign against Iran.
In November 2020, Iran's leading nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in a covert operation widely attributed to Israel.
In April 2024, an Israeli strike targeted an Iranian diplomatic facility in Damascus, killing senior Iranian commanders, including Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi. The attack shattered decades of indirect confrontation and helped trigger the first direct military exchanges between Israel and Iran.
In July 2024, Israel launched long-range strikes against Yemen's Hodeidah port after a Houthi drone attack reached Tel Aviv. The strikes killed workers, injured dozens and caused extensive damage to Yemen's primary import hub.
Months later, attention shifted to Lebanon.
Following a year of border clashes, Israel dramatically escalated operations against Hezbollah. The campaign culminated in September 2024 with the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
More than 3,000 people were killed during the broader Lebanon escalation and over 1.2 million displaced.
Yet even those operations failed to satisfy Netanyahu, who consistently viewed regional diplomacy as an obstacle rather than an opportunity.
Nowhere is that accusation stronger than in relation to Iran.
For decades, Netanyahu pursued a singular strategic objective: preventing Iran from becoming the dominant power in the Middle East.
You're f**king crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.
During negotiations over the Iranian nuclear programme between 2013 and 2015, he openly challenged the Obama administration and addressed the US Congress against the wishes of the White House.
When Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement during his first term, tensions surged.
When efforts emerged to revive diplomacy, they repeatedly collapsed amid sabotage, assassinations and military strikes.
Netanyahu's goal was never simply to contain Iran's nuclear programme but to ensure permanent confrontation. That confrontation eventually exploded into open warfare.
Between February and April 2026, Israel and the US launched extensive strikes on Iranian targets, including facilities in Tehran and Isfahan. Iranian officials reported more than 1,500 deaths and widespread infrastructure damage affecting millions.
The war did not produce the decisive outcome Netanyahu reportedly predicted. The Iranian government survived, regional tensions intensified, and discussions quickly emerged about the possibility of another round of conflict.
For years, Netanyahu argued that military pressure would produce security. His critics counter that it has produced perpetual instability. Yet perhaps the most powerful indictment of Netanyahu's leadership does not come from Gaza, Iran or Lebanon. It comes from Israel itself.
Over the last six years, Israel has witnessed one of the most sustained protest movements in the history of any modern democracy. The first wave, known as the Balfour protests, began in 2020 after Netanyahu's indictment. Demonstrations continued every week for more than 15 months.
The second wave erupted in 2023 over controversial judicial reforms. For 40 consecutive weeks, hundreds of thousands of Israelis flooded city streets. At its peak, between 300,000 and 500,000 people participated in demonstrations across a country of just over nine million people.
Then came October 7. The protests did not disappear. They evolved.
Families of hostages joined anti-government activists in demanding accountability, a hostage deal and Netanyahu's resignation. Even after ceasefires emerged, demonstrations continued.
In September 2024, after the recovery of six slain hostages, more than 500,000 Israelis reportedly participated in a nationwide strike and protest movement. The significance of these protests is impossible to ignore.
The strongest opposition to Netanyahu has often come not from international critics but from Israeli citizens themselves. They see a leader facing corruption charges, dependent on ultranationalist coalition partners, confronting international legal scrutiny and presiding over multiple regional wars.
They see a politician who repeatedly chooses escalation over compromise, confrontation over diplomacy and survival over accountability.
History will ultimately determine whether that judgement is fair.
But after years of conflict stretching from Gaza to Syria, from Lebanon to Yemen, from Tehran to Tel Aviv, one question hangs over Netanyahu's legacy: How much destruction can a leader justify in the name of security before the pursuit of security itself becomes indistinguishable from the pursuit of power?
