The televised messages to the nation in the afternoon slot continue to have an unmatched solemnity and solvency, no matter how analog television is, which is why it was the medium chosen on Wednesday night by the Prime Minister of Israel, Beniamin Netanyahu, to reaffirm the nation “that there will be ground intervention” in Gaza. And the worst is not what we have already seen with the bombings or the saturated hospitals. “We have already killed thousands of terrorists,” he said. This is just the beginning".
Very few Israelis believe that Netanyahu, a natural survivor, can remain in power once the war ends after ruling thirteen of the last fourteen years. It is also not a relevant issue now. The prime minister himself said that once the war is over, not before, everyone will have to answer for the security fiasco of October 7, “including me.” The country only seems divided between those who are in a hurry to enter Gaza and those who want to enter Gaza with or without haste. There are no discrepancies on this matter.
The prime minister did not give any clue as to when the offensive would begin, a decision that corresponds – he clarified – to a war cabinet, with representation of liberal parties outside the executive, labeled the most far-right in the history of Israel.
Annoyed these days with the version that it is Washington that manages the times and imposes patience, Netanyahu tried to show that it is he and his government who decide. For the first time, he included the fate of the more than 200 hostages among the priorities, along the lines sponsored by Washington and “rewarded” by Hamas with the release of four kidnapped women. Perhaps to avoid offending Israeli sensitivities, President Joe Biden clarified this Wednesday that he has never asked Netanyahu to delay the ground offensive to facilitate hostage negotiations.
“We are in a war for our sovereignty, our existence, and we have set two fundamental objectives: eradicate the capabilities of Hamas and do everything possible to bring the hostages home,” Netanyahu said in a six-minute message, very Straight to the point.
The families of the kidnapped have achieved a formidable mobilization, increased media coverage, and their stories are told more and more in order not to endanger their lives. Israeli tradition has always prioritized the rescue of the kidnapped, even if they were soldiers and not civilians, over other higher considerations, such that it is considered equivalent to accepting blackmail. A columnist for Haaretz, a center-left newspaper, Gideon Levy, estimated this Wednesday that Hamas uses them and will continue to do so as “a public relations exercise” and asked “what do they get in return?” In his opinion, they will be the bargaining chip for “thousands of Palestinian prisoners, some terrorists.” According to Israeli non-governmental organizations cited by Efe, the prisons have gone from 5,500 Palestinian prisoners before the terrorist attack of October 7 to 11,000 today, the majority imprisoned without many legal considerations.
Meanwhile, Israel has engaged in a diplomatic brawl with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, over a statement that he has considered distorted by Israel since, he said, at no time did he justify the actions of Hamas. Even so, the Israeli ambassador demands the resignation of the Portuguese, and on the ground, a senior United Nations official, the Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, has been punished by not renewing his visa.
“It is time to teach a lesson” to these senior UN officials, the Israeli ambassador to the organization stated.
The background of the clash is the most serious: the health situation in Gaza, catastrophic according to all international organizations. That is, from the WHO to UNRWA (United Nations Agency for Political Refugees), mostly included in the United Nations. His complaints about the inhumane conditions in hospitals and the deprivation suffered by Palestinians in Gaza bother Israel, where there is always a response to any accusation.
The fight will continue for the next 24 hours in New York, where the Security Council is not expected to approve any resolution on the situation in Gaza. To date, the two presented – by Russia and Brazil – have been defeated in the Council itself and this is likely to happen with the two resolutions that the US and Russia are expected to present.
If any of the five members exercised the right of veto, the matter would be put to a vote in the General Assembly, where all the states “take a stand.”
The Gaza war adds, as always, to the perplexity of whether or not a global organization that is never capable of avoiding a war is of any use, contrary to its founding spirit after the Second World War. Defenders of the United Nations always argue that, despite its shortcomings, the world would be worse without the organization and its organizations, which have become highly bureaucratized over time. The health and care crisis in Gaza would undoubtedly be worse without the work of United Nations professionals. Their complaints – more than 7,000 patients in danger due to shortages, six hospitals on the verge of collapse due to lack of fuel or the saturation of 151 shelters for a displaced population of 613,000 Gazans – represent the diagnosis of a drama and the palliative cures for it. .
For those skeptical about the effectiveness of the United Nations, it will be enough to contrast the images of the Gaza Strip of yesterday, today and tomorrow with the diplomatic rhetoric without practical effects of the Security Council or the votes of the General Assembly, a diplomatic who's who without major effects on the ground. Israel's relationship with the UN is worthy of study: it began with the decisive recognition of the State of Israel in 1949 – whether the neighbors liked it or not – and has led to a bitter, almost permanent dispute, which does not keep Israel awake but which gives him bad press on a global scale.
