Netanyahu doesn’t fish from muddy waters, but from the blood of fish.
The Prime Minister of Israel has moved beyond his usual deceitful political maneuvering and entered a new phase.
His press conference on the day of major protests and strikes in Israel was a spectacle beyond his previous speeches and meetings.
He demonstrated such mastery in twisting sentences and ideas that it astonished the journalists. While everyone was waiting for a hint of flexibility from Netanyahu regarding the border crossings to advance ceasefire negotiations and hostage release, he emphasized the importance of controlling these crossings by presenting a map of the area.
Netanyahu spoke artistically and in detail about the importance of controlling entry and exit to Gaza and preventing the entry of weapons, insisting on Israel’s achievements during the military operations at the Philadelphi Route, stressing that this type of operation is the best pressure on Hamas and the best way to force them to release hostages.
He insisted once again that he agreed with Biden’s proposed agreement at the end of May, and it was Hamas that rejected the agreement. The pure and surprising part of Netanyahu’s press conference was the display of an Arabic text that he claimed was obtained from Hamas.
This text emphasized the psychological pressure program on Israelis through images and content related to hostages and introduced Gallant, the Defense Minister, as a suitable agent for pressuring Netanyahu. This image was highly impactful, and he effectively humiliated his Defense Minister in front of the cameras.
In response to journalists regarding the future of his cooperation with the Defense Minister, he did not provide a clear explanation and merely said that as long as there is mutual trust with the ministers, cooperation will continue.
Even in the face of Biden’s recent criticism, Netanyahu managed to twist the subject with such success that no one gained anything.
With brilliant rhetorical flexibility, he declared the end of the war conditional on eliminating Hamas’s military power and political dominance in Gaza, distancing himself from the promise of eliminating Hamas.
The impact of these words on public opinion should be assessed in the near future.