Benjamin Netanyahu cornered to stop the war in Gaza is preparing the ground for a way out

By Elijah J. Magnier

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sending a clear message: Israel is now powerful enough, armed enough, and self-sufficient enough to defy even the United States. In a recent interview, he boasted that Israel was “moving toward total self-sufficiency” and would “continue sharing its advanced technology with its best ally, the United States.” The phrasing was deliberately ambiguous, but the meaning was unmistakable. Netanyahu was signalling that Israel no longer depends on Washington’s support to conduct its wars or secure its future — and that it is ready to act on its own terms.

This is not mere rhetoric. Over the course of the Gaza war, Israel has received more than $21.7 billion in American aid, an enormous sum that has allowed it to wage one of the most destructive military campaigns in modern history. With that money, Netanyahu has replenished his arsenal of precision munitions, reloaded the multi-layered missile interception system, and secured critical military components from Germany and the United Kingdom. More than 200,000 tonnes of explosives have flattened roughly 80 per cent of Gaza’s infrastructure. Entire neighbourhoods have been erased. The war machine is now fully resupplied, entrenched, and prepared for a long conflict — or a new one.