Caroline Glick

Is Israel on the cusp of political upheaval? In recent days, evidence has grown that two key actors—the Biden administration and Israel’s security establishment—are both pushing the country in that direction to advance their longstanding common goal of ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the religious-right bloc from power.

The Biden administration showed its hand on Tuesday when U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken gave Israel an ultimatum to support Palestinian statehood or risk demonization by the administration.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Blinken restated the administration’s demand that Netanyahu present a plan for the day after the war against Hamas in Gaza and the administration’s goal of using the war to establish a Palestinian state. Blinken insisted that the only side that refuses to accept the administration’s goal is the Israeli public—and its leader, Netanyahu.

Insisting that “Arab leaders, Palestinian leaders” have prepared their people for Palestinian statehood, Blinken said: “I think the challenge now, the question now, is is Israeli society prepared to engage on these questions? Is it prepared to have that mindset?”

Blinken, however, doesn’t seem to care what Israelis think. He wants them to obey, and he views Netanyahu as the obstacle to Israeli obeisance to the administration’s program. As a result, he wants the prime minister ousted from power.

Blinken insists that Israel cannot win a military victory in Gaza. Blinken told Netanyahu that ultimately there is no military solution to Hamas … and that the Israeli leader needs to recognize that or history will repeat itself and violence will continue.

Although the public and Netanyahu reject this view, Blinken does have partners in Israeli “civil society” for his position. And those partners—led by retired generals—began a massive, multimillion-dollar campaign for new elections just before Blinken arrived in Israel.

Reportedly due to massive pressure from Blinken and against the expressed recommendations of commanders on the ground, on Friday the General Staff stunned the public by announcing that it was removing a division from Gaza. In the days immediately following the troop withdrawal, the city of Netivot was attacked by rockets twice from areas IDF forces had abandoned in central and northern Gaza.

https://carolineglick.com/the-u-s-campaign-to-oust-netanyahu/