When Hamas launched its barbaric attack on October 7, many people were quick to write off Netanyahu as a political “dead man walking. “Foreign leaders and domestic opponents alike, with political pundits and talking heads in tow, pointed fingers at Israel’s longest-serving premier, predicting that he – and perhaps Israel as we know it – were finished. But within a year, Netanyahu has defied all expectations and transformed Israel’s regional and global status.
A year ago, Israel was encircled by Iran’s proxies – Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Shi’ite militias in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq – and after the October 7 attacks, few thought Israel could overcome that “ring of fire.”
Israel’s security doctrine was hinged on short wars and the IDF had never fought on multiple fronts for so long.
Netanyahu faced additional challenges from the West. Fueled by massive Muslim immigration and campus antisemitism that was buttressed by Qatar’s financial resources, Hamas propaganda penetrated Western academia and effectively instilled a false Palestinian narrative of victimhood, while maligning Zionism as a pernicious “white colonialist” movement.
Instead of providing steadfast support to its closest ally, the Biden-Harris administration actively undermined Netanyahu by delaying arms shipments and applying economic leverage. There were outright calls by Democratic senators for Netanyahu’s removal.
But where others saw insurmountable obstacles, Netanyahu saw the tragic crisis as an opportunity. It was an opportunity he never wanted, but one he took advantage of.
As historian Victor Davis Hanson explains in a recent piece, Netanyahu “understood that the sheer depravity of October 7 gave Israel, at least for a brief window, the moral authority to wage all-out war on its enemies, terrorists whose reputations he sensed were exaggerated, and their leaders’ bloodcurdling threats thus mostly empty.’’
Netanyahu turned a war that started off worse than the 1973 Yom Kippur War with no early warning, to a victory that may turn out to be more significant than the 1967 Six Day War – a clear victory that could expand regional peace.
Exceeding all expectations
ISRAEL’S EFFORTS have so far exceeded all expectations.
Hamas’s command structure has been dismantled, its fighting units destroyed, and its military installations reduced to rubble. Despite Hezbollah rockets and anti-tank missiles that were constantly being fired on homes in northern Israel’s border towns forcing tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate, the terrorist organization that was feared around the world and with so much blood on its hand is now without its leadership, thousands of fighters, and at least half of its missile capabilities, after precise Israeli airstrikes and gutsy ground incursions.
Most significantly, Israel’s surgical strikes in Iran have degraded key military assets and highlighted the regime’s vulnerability.
Soon after Israel began fighting back, Netanyahu was excoriated by a long list of former IDF generals, media wonks, and Israeli opposition for lacking “overarching strategy.’’
But after over a year of unprecedented warfare, reality kicked in.
It is now clear that Netanyahu’s strategy has transformed long-held misperceptions in the Middle East. Iran’s aura of invincibility has evaporated, replaced by the image of an unstable regime whose proxies have been essentially neutralized. The once-fearsome terrorist taskmasters, from Ismail Haniyeh to Hassan Nasrallah and Yahya Sinwar, are now dead and forgotten figures.
As Hanson writes, Israel’s victory carries a sharp irony: Netanyahu has achieved more against terrorists who target Western interests than the combined efforts of US intelligence, NATO, and international law enforcement. Yet instead of appreciation, he is often rebuked by the very nations who benefit from Israel’s feats.
Netanyahu defined Israel’s war objectives shortly after it began: Destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, freeing all the hostages, ensuring that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future, and the safe return of all displaced Israelis to their homes.
Significantly degrading Hezbollah’s capabilities was an additional objective that was added as the attacks on the northern front persisted. Above all remains the goal of preventing a nuclear Iran.
In short, “Total victory” – and Israelis will settle for nothing less.
The multi-front war against Israel is not over. Many challenges remain, but the end of the war is within sight.
The post-war Middle East is set to be more stable because Netanyahu trusted his instincts and insights over his critics’ cynicism and showed that democracies can defeat terrorism. By methodically degrading the capabilities of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran itself, he has created space for moderate regional forces to emerge, who will hopefully join the Peace-for-Peace precedent set by the Abraham Accords.
Those who questioned Netanyahu’s capability and even his integrity have been answered with results and hope.
The writer is a former head of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism’s office in Washington and a senior analyst at Acumen Risk Ltd., a risk-management firm.