Much has been made of the “narrow” political interests that push Benjamin Netanyahu to insist on achieving “total victory” in Gaza, which in practice means continuing to carry out genocide and ethnic cleansing while attempting to eradicate the resistance. This view has been most prominently put forward by Netanyahu’s political opponents. A random selection of virtually any article from Haaretz today will produce a number of examples. What this view gets wrong is that the Israeli interest in continuing the war is far from narrow. In fact, while it is clear that Netanyahu has a short-term political interest in continuing the Gaza genocide, it is the combination of these short-term interests with the long-term goals of the Zionist movement — the ethnic cleansing of Palestine — that have led to a unique historical confluence: Netanyahu’s political interests have now lined up with Zionism’s colonial imperative. ….more
