Hours before launching its land offensive over Ciudad de Gaza, Benjamín Netanyahu prepared his country for a future of growing economic isolation, urging Israeli citizens to become the “super-sparta” of the Middle East.
The prime minister drew a future for Israel with a militarized society and a partial autarchy, a scenario of economic self -sufficiency with limited commercial options and growing dependence on national production, something that has generated rejection among the Israelis, increasingly restless to the possibility of continuing to descend along a path that seems to take Israel to the group of pariah nations by the genocide that is perpetrating.
On Tuesday, Israel took another step in that direction. While his tanks slowly advanced through the streets towards the center of Ciudad de Gaza, an Independent UN Commission of the UN published a detailed report concluding that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza.
The next day, the European Commission proposed to impose tariffs on Israeli products that total 227 million euros and the suspension of the EU bilateral support to Israel of about 20 million (coercive measures that need to be approved by a qualified majority of countries in the Council). Meanwhile, the list of countries that undertake to recognize the state of Palestine and the number of nations that threaten to boycott the Eurovision Festival does grow if Israel's participation is maintained.
In the news and social networks, stories about Israelis on vacation abroad appear daily that end up involved in fights or attacked by hostile locals. For many Israelis who grew, considering an advanced Western in the Middle East, all this is deeply worrying.
Immediately after Netanyahu's speech in which he said that Israel would be a 'super-spectacular', the shares suffered a fall in the Tel Aviv bag and the Shekel backed off the dollar. The intermediaries in the negotiation rooms of values that know of ancient history remembered the lesson of the Spartans: they fought with courage but lost in a disastrous way.
“What a romantic fantasize with the Spartan heroes and ascetic Maariv The veteran columnist Ben Caspit. “The problem is that Sparta was annihilated,” he added. “He lost and disappeared.”
“I don't want to be Sparta,” said Tuesday during a Arnon Bar-David, president of Histadrut (the largest Federation of Israel unions). “We deserve peace, Israeli society is exhausted and our situation in the world is very bad.”
When the land offensive began in Gaza City, a group of 80 outstanding Israeli economists encrypted in billions of Shekels the economic losses derived from self -inflicted damage. They affirmed that the attempt to conquer and destroy all of Gaza was “a threat to the security and economic adaptation of the State of Israel, which could move him away from the group of developed countries.”
In his speech, Netanyahu blamed foreigners of the growing isolation of Israel. “A siege organized by a few states,” he said. “One is China and the other is Qatar. And they are organizing an attack against Israel, against their legitimacy, on the social networks of the western world and the United States.”
The threat in the West was other but equally pernicious, Netanyahu warned. “Western Europe has great Islamist minorities, they are very explicit, many of them have political motivations, align with Hamas, align with Iran,” said Prime Minister. “They press the governments of Western Europe, many of which are well willing towards Israel, but in fact they are surpassed by violent protests campaigns and constant intimidation.”
His comments seemed to refer to the United Kingdom, France and Belgium. The three countries have been increasingly critical of Israel for their performance in Gaza and it is expected that this week they recognize the Palestinian State in the UN General Assembly.
Netanyahu's statement that in Western Europe governments are subjected to Islamism, it is a reflection of conspiracy theories that in these countries propagate the extreme right movements booming nationwide. Making a blind eye in front of the anti -Semitic legacy of the extreme right in Europe and the USA, Netanyahu and its government partners have become common cause with these movements. (This week, Israeli Foreign Minister showed His appreciation for the Vox leader, Santiago Abascalin his X account).
For his critics within Israel, Netanyahu's exalted rhetoric when he talked about Sparta, but his classic rejection of assuming responsibility for his government's actions.
In the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoththe commentator Sever Plocker used a biblical reference in writing that Netanyahu's policies were “leading Israel directly to the tragic situation of the 'people who will live alone', isolated from the developed western world, a country to which other nations do not want to approach, who they do not want to visit, who they do not want to receive, and with which they want to trade much less”.
Yair Golan, president of the Democrats party in Parliament, gave voice to a very widespread suspicion within Israel: Netanyahu is determined to keep the country at war to avoid early elections, remain prime minister and, thus, avoid jail. In a Tuesday view of your corruption judgmentNetanyahu effectively used the land offensive as an excuse not to go to the court.
According to Golan, Netanyahu's message to its citizens before the Jewish New Year is as follows: “I need an eternal war and isolation to maintain my post; and you will sacrifice the country, the economy, the future of your children and its relationship with the world.”
Despite the many criticisms that Netanyahu has received during the last two years for the brutal offensive on Gaza, his permanence in power has challenged all expectations. He has helped him the support of Washington, reluctantly during the government of Joe Biden and more indiscriminately since the return of Donald Trump. The land offensive on Ciudad de Gaza began on Tuesday, after the approval that the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, He gave Netanyahu the day beforewhen he promised “firm” support to eliminate Hamas.
Meanwhile, in the internal political fight, the ultra -orthodox and religious electorate has gained importance, with the old secular and technocratic elites of Israel losing prominence. Netanyahu's coalition partners in the extreme right have welcomed this idea of siege that the prime minister tries to instill, because it makes it more difficult to reach an agreement and yield to the foreign influence, two obstacles on their way to create a 'great Israel' built on the ruins of the Palestinian territory.
The journalist and right -wing commentator Amihai Attali argued on Tuesday that the Israelis had been time to understand that they were in a religious war to death, where some economic difficulties would be a small price to pay. “Yes, this will take longer than we are used to fighting; yes, it will be more exhausting and will mean a great burden on our national and social resources,” he wrote in the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. “We have no choice but to wield our swords.”
Text translated by Francisco de Zárate and updated by eldiario.es