Netanyahu doesn’t fish in troubled waters, but from the blood of fish.
The Prime Minister of Israel has moved beyond his usual deceitful political maneuvering and has 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 skill in twisting sentences and ideas that it astonished the journalists. While everyone was waiting for a bit of flexibility from Netanyahu regarding the border crossings to advance ceasefire negotiations and the release of hostages, he emphasized the importance of controlling these crossings by presenting a map of the area.
Netanyahu spoke artfully 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 army’s operations at the Philadelphi Corridor, emphasizing that this type of operation is the best pressure on Hamas and the best way to force them to release hostages.
He reiterated that at the end of May, he agreed to the agreement proposed by Biden, and it is Hamas that has rejected it. The pure and surprising part of Netanyahu’s press conference was the display of an Arabic text which he claims 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 to pressure Netanyahu. This image was extremely impactful, and he effectively humiliated his Defense Minister in front of the cameras.
In response to journalists about the future of his cooperation with the Defense Minister, he did not provide a clear explanation and merely said that cooperation will continue as long as there is mutual trust with the ministers.
Even in the face of Biden’s recent criticism, Netanyahu managed to twist the subject so successfully 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 needs to be assessed in the near future.