Analysis | Biden, if You Really Want to Understand Netanyahu, Listen to What He Says in Hebrew
For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Philadelphi route in Gaza is now the fastest way out of any possible cease-fire and hostage deal. The U.S. administration would know that if it paid more attention to his Hebrew speeches over the past months
Alon Pinkas, Haaretz, Sep 5, 2024
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks Hebrew and English fluently – yet things get lost in translation when he deliberately says different things to different audiences.
One of his most prominent political-rhetorical characteristics is that on the same topic and issue, the Hebrew and the English texts are not compatible. What is truly odd is that the only ones who do not seem aware or alert to his linguistic discrepancies are the Americans.
They should know by now that going back to a used car dealership and buying a car without an engine from the same salesman who sold you a car without the wheels is not savvy policy. But this week, even the inconsistencies in his Hebrew and English speeches proved the same thing: he has no intention whatsoever of reaching any kind of hostage-release deal.
Any agreement – assuming Hamas even accepts one, which Netanyahu is counting on them not to – that would mean the de facto end of the war is unacceptable to him. He needs the war to go on, motivated by his political survival and callosity toward the hostages and their families. Still, it is worthwhile looking at the gaps between his two lectures.
Take for example the Philadelphi route, that 14-kilometer (8-mile) stretch at the southern tip of Gaza that separates the Strip from Egypt. As his most novel excuse and pretext to evade a hostage deal and cease-fire, Netanyahu – who spent his childhood in Philadelphia – had a eureka moment: Turn it into a strategic, existential issue.
In the lecture he gave this week in Hebrew (it was officially termed a "press conference"), he turned this corridor into the equivalent of the Great Wall of China, or Hadrian's Wall separating England from Scotland, or the German fortifications on the beaches of Normandy in 1944.
Israel, he explained, is strategically weakened and threatened if it relinquishes control of this vital corridor. On a crude, elementary school-quality map that omitted borders, the West Bank and other natural or political features, he described with arrows and missile emojis how control of the Philadelphi route is crucial to Israel's defense. He wasn't lying, per se – just typically confabulating.
Let's look at some facts. In October 2004, and again in February 2005, Mr. Netanyahu, then finance minister in Ariel Sharon's government, twice voted to cede control of the corridor as part of the Israeli disengagement from Gaza. That he later claimed Israel leaving Gaza was bad policy is immaterial. When it mattered, he voted for it. Twice. He even demanded a referendum, though later retracted that demand.
Second, he has been prime minister since 2009 (with an 18-month hiatus in 2021-2022). What has he done to regain control of Israel's "Great Wall of China"? Nothing. He did allow, encourage, vet and insist on Qatari money being funneled into Gaza. And when Qatar, in 2018, wanted to revisit the policy because it had concerns that its funds were being misused, Netanyahu implored the Qataris not to.
Third, following Hamas' savage terror attack on October 7, Netanyahu never mentioned the Philadelphi route as a military priority. When U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and the two generals accompanying him asked Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi where Hamas' military center of gravity was, Halevi unequivocally answered: "In the southern part of the Gaza Strip." So why, the perplexed Americans asked, "are you showing us plans to invade, bombard and occupy the northern part of Gaza?"
Fourth, since the latest hostage and cease-fire deal was presented in May – a plan Israel had already consented to – the Philadelphi route was not a major issue, certainly not a deal-breaker. But in late July, fearing that a deal might actually be accepted, Netanyahu presented a list of new demands and clarifications, turning the corridor into the be-all and end-all of why a deal was not possible.
Fifth, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the IDF and a large number of former generals who have vast knowledge of the corridor, including Maj. Gen. (ret.) Israel Ziv and Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yitzhak Brik, all say that, weighed against a hostage deal, the insistence on the Philadelphi route is a political stunt with little real value. The U.S. administration reiterated that position on Wednesday.
In his 24-minute Hebrew-language lecture, Netanyahu explained why control of the Philadelphi route is essential, and why without it there will be no deal. But then, under U.S. pressure, he slightly changed the tone in the English-language one: Of course he wants a hostage deal, and in fact during "phase two" of the deal he will consider relinquishing control of the corridor, though it is "unlikely" we will get to that phase.
Of course it is. When you refuse to enter phase one, it is definitely unlikely you will reach phase two.
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