‘Let’s go full crazy’: Benjamin Netanyahu does not care what the world thinks

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brazen decision to bomb a key Western ally in the Middle East in pursuit of Hamas leaders demonstrates that he has given up caring, if he ever did, about mainstream Western opinion.

The attack against the men who might have negotiated a precious cease fire in the same country that hosts the US Central Command regional headquarters was so aggressive that even Donald Trump — the man who controls the supply of bombs and bullets to the Israeli state — did not try to hide his distaste.

Mr Netanyahu does not seem to care. His maximalist negotiating style deploys extreme force against Israel’s enemies, even at the cost of diplomatic support from the Western democracies which Mr Netanyahu accused today of forgetting the massacre of 1200 of his citizens on October 7, 2023.

Those deaths were celebrated in the Hamas Doha office by several of the leaders targeted today. Feeling safe in Qatar, Hamas’s men allowed themselves to be filmed thanking God for the violence unleased on Jews, which triggered a predictable but tragic retaliation that has laid waste to their people’s land.

As Israelis see former friends around the world turn against them, and Jews starve in Gazan tunnels, many have become inured to international disapproval. “The feeling in Israel is the world has abandoned us and lets go full-steam ahead,” said Ran Porat, a former Israeli military intelligence analyst now lecturing in Australia. “Let’s go full crazy.”

Defending Israel

There are compelling arguments to support Israel. The Middle East’s leading democracy is home to a prosperous, free and sophisticated society protecting a people persecuted for a millennia.

Much of the criticism is hypocritical. Iran, for one, condemned the attack even though it bombed a US air base in Qatar three months ago in retaliation for America’s attack on its nuclear sites.

The French president described the attack as unacceptable. France has bombed Syria, Iraq, Libya, Mali and Niger in the pursuit of terrorists.

Nonetheless, the Israeli government’s strategy of bombing its way to peace makes it harder for sympathetic nations to provide support, let alone conservative Arab states that detest the Iranian-funded Hamas and would like to normalise relations.

When Australia, Canada, Britain and France vote in the United Nations in a couple of weeks time to recognise a state of Palestine, they will face less domestic opposition because of the bombing in Doha. Even Australia’s Coalition, normally a reliable Israel supporter, blanched at IDF bombs falling on Doha.

As unpalatable as it may feel to many Israelis, defeating their enemy does not require every Hamas leader to die. Someone has to survive to surrender. Endless death is not the answer, as the Jews should know better than anyone.