In his autobiography, Bibi Netanyahu envisioned himself as a hero, who would reclaim the Holy Land for the Israelis, and also avenge his older brother, Yoni Netanyahu, who had been killed by Palestinian forces in 1976. His book clearly details how a two-state solution with Palestine could never be possible, not as a political impossibility, but perhaps due to the decades of trauma both nations had suffered under each other as close neighbours.
Bibi Netanyahu, a septuagenarian of 74, is old enough to remember militant Palestinian factions in the 70s and 80s, one called Black September which had shocked the world in its kidnapping and assassination of Israeli Olympic athletes in the Olympic Games of 1972 in Munich, as well the assassination of Jordan’s prime minister, along with the dozens of bombings and hijackings that occurred years after in Europe culminating in a failed New York City bombing attempt.
Although a brief respite of hope came to light in the 90s, when there was significant movement towards peace between Palestine and Israel under the auspices of the Clinton Administration through the Oslo Accords, those peace talks were soon sabotaged and stalled after the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. It was at that time which shaped Bibi Netanyahu and he would come into power.
Understanding Bibi Netanyahu
Bibi Netanyahu is a charismatic, energetic leader who had first become Prime Minister in 1996 when he was just 47 years old. He comes from a post-WWII generation in which he had been born right after the fall of Nazi Germany and carried the psychological scars of the memories of his war torn family. Much of his formal education was in the United States where he studied political science at MIT and Harvard University and then received both a BSc in Architecture and MSc in Management studies at MIT.
Bibi Netanyahu meeting with IDF soldiers on Oct 20th near Gaza. Photo from his X account @IsraeliPM
Mr. Netanyahu has an ESTP personality in MBTI personality theory, in which he is considered an Extravert Sense-Oriented Thinking and Perceiving individual. ESTPs, like Bibi, tend to be action oriented, entrepreneurial, and not afraid to take chances on their impulses; they often utilise wit and humour to deal with tough situations and may not like showing any sort of emotional vulnerability. Although they are excellent at perceiving the emotions of others, they may often be insensitive, impatient and have problems analysing the context of situations that require intuition, insight and future thinking. Instead they may be more reliant on doing things that have a high probability of immediate outcome. When forced to examine their decisions and admit culpability for any kind of wrongdoing or actions that have a negative impact, they may have a hard time accepting consequences of their actions and might become combative and stubborn in adjusting their strategy.
It is also possible that ESTPs may often also utilise hardball tactics in negotiation than any other type. Hardball tactics include the use of deliberate deception, psychological warfare and positional pressure tactics which include aggressive and manipulative tactics to gain advantage from the other party. However, according to Harvard Law School, the most successful negotiations often utilise a compromising style of negotiation tactics which enhances trust and focuses on striking a balanced deal between both parties whereas hardball tactics often fail.
Mr. Netanyahu’s military actions in Gaza display hardball tactics, intended to remove all the Palestinians from the Gaza strip by limited access to water and supplies and forced starvation, creating an unlivable environment in an attempt to quickly push Palestinians out of their land through the Israeli concept of “Nakba” first utilised in 1948 during the Arab-Israeli war which displaced and dispossessed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Mr. Netanyahu’s military actions also show shortsighted thinking and limited understanding of complex international relations and future ramifications, as Israel had been on the precipice of signing normalisation agreements with Saudi Arabia through the Abraham Accords, which would have had a significant impact on the ability for Israeli companies and startups to expand and populate Arab nations through shared cooperation, creating the ideal climate for a Greater Israel; instead Mr. Netanyahu’s actions have successfully sabotaged possible normalisation with Saudi Arabia and paved the way for a united Arabic resistance that now recognises Israel as an existential threat despite its continual effort to paint itself as a victim in the current situation with an unconvincing motto, “the right to defend ourselves” whilst launching attacks on Palestine in which the majority of the victims have been children, women and elderly people.
Hamas using “human shields” in order to justify and rationalise the killing of thousands of children, women and elderly people did not seem convincing nor ethically sound by the population at large nor by the International Criminal Court in the Hague (ICC) which had announced the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Bibi Netanayhu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Photo by Abed Khaled/ Associated Press.
Instead of launching a Greater Israel which Mr. Netanyahu hoped for in his autobiography, Israel is now surrounded by multiple battlefronts: Hamas as an ideology that cannot be defeated, Hezbollah in the North, the Houthis in Yemen, and even the Taliban. More nations are recognising Palestine as a state and Mr. Netanyahu has been condemned and a warrant sent out for his arrest by the ICC for genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Intelligence Failure or Willful Negligence?
The world watched on October 7th as a small group of Hamas fighters on motorcycles entered through a hole in a fence on the Northern border of Israel, armed with what appeared to be outdated 1980s style rifles, and soon took control of thousands of concertgoers who were ironically at a Supernova Festival for peace and unity between the two nations, the faction of young Israelis who most likely did not support Netanyahu’s political regime.
The Israelis at the Supernova Peace Festival were a faction of young Israelis who did most likely not support Netanyahu’s conservative politics and hoped for a two-state solution. They were dancing for peace and unity between the two nations when they had been targeted by the militant Hamas group on the northern border of Israel on October 7th. Photo by Ido Derbi.
These Hamas militants were not high tech soldiers armed with the latest weapons and nothing resembling Black Ops groups nor the US Marine Corp Special Forces. Dressed in t-shirts and some covering their mouths with handkerchiefs and seemingly armed with outdated weapons, it was considerably a low tech and rather feeble attempt to infiltrate the Israeli border by a small group of Hamas militants who probably were surprised by their own success. All this happened in broad daylight whilst every moment had been completely documented on social media and their location tracked on Google Maps and GPS satellites, yet the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) were nowhere to be seen. In fact, they would not show up until several hours later, when many concert goers had already fled or been killed, allowing this low tech militant group enough time to successfully take approximately 251 hostages. What is even more puzzling is that Israeli Intelligence were informed that Hamas planned a small-scale invasion of Israel’s border weeks and days before it happened.
Was this intelligence failure or willful negligence? Why did Bibi Netanyahu not act quickly as GPS satellites captured the Hamas militants as they infiltrated the northern border of Israel on the morning of October 7th? Why was no action taken, even as concertgoers documented the shooting and kidnapping live on social media? Why did it take the IDF several hours later until they finally arrived, when there was nothing to salvage and the Hamas militants had already left the northern border, taking with them 251 hostages?
We can only speculate on the motivations of Bibi Netanyahu as the “surprise” attack on October 7th transpired whilst he and his Defence Minister sat, watched and did nothing. However, one thing is certain, Mr. Netanyahu has not only failed to protect the Israeli people through what can only be attributed as sheer negligence during the Oct 7th attack on the northern border of Israel in which the IDF did nothing as the entire event had been openly documented on social media, and in which Israeli intelligence had also been informed of the imminent Hamas invasion days and weeks before, but Bibi Netanyahu has also significantly damaged the reputation of the United States, by allowing his genocidal war to be associated with American defence corporations.
The Rise of American Defence Corporations
We live in a complex world in which “one man's war is another man’s bread and butter.” Whilst missiles were being sent to Ukraine, as young teenaged soldiers were dying in great numbers, the shareholders of Lockheed Martin met at the Waldorf-Astoria in Orange County in September of last year with a scintillating view of the seaside for a luxurious meal in order to discuss profits until the end of the decade. The ongoing war in Ukraine would boost the company at least $10 billion for current orders with surging growth towards 2030.
Now, with the added Israeli-Palestinian war to add to its roster, investors could be reassured that the recent $1 billion loss on a classified programme would be cushioned by profits from not one but by two ongoing wars.
However, it is not also the great canon of American defence corporations such as Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Honeywell et al that are profiting from wars, but a long list ranging from corporations in Italy, Norway, UK and much of the rest of Europe, but also in cross-sectional sectors, such as finance and banking, hedge funds, energy, AI, surveillance and tech that are also heavily invested in these ongoing conflicts.
In the years immediately after WWII, the United States once had a principled and impeccable reputation, as the defender against terrorism, of rooting out authoritarianism, chaos and injustice and fighting for democracy. This vision of the American Dream still exists in its distribution of soft power through the global entertainment world. However, as the world witnessed the horrors of the Vietnam War, the fossil fuel wars of the 80s and 90s, the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and various coups in South and Central American nations, these events have tarnished America’s clean image as one that has been corrupted by power which embodies the quote from the 19th century historian Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
However, what is distinctly unique about the United States is its ability to change course when an ill-implemented strategy has been identified. Chinese Generals, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui remark in the book, “Unrestricted Warfare” that America’s adaptive model of government has allowed the United States to become successful due to its ability to alter course if something isn’t working. Instead of falling into continual revolution and suffering from coups which are the norm in other authoritarian nations, the US has a "self-correcting mechanism" and simply changes its leadership and sets a new course when the last administration goes under fire. This is what Chinese Generals cite as a key component to the resilience of American power.
The US has been through many challenges, from the cruel and unjust Trail of Tears in its early history that had led to the forced removal of Native Americans from their land, to the end of human slavery during the Civil War period to the resilience of the people who survived the Great Depression to the autocratic discrimination and targeting of Americans during the McCarthy era to other significant crises of confidence that are still in progress in contemporary society, but through it all, America has been able to redeem itself, to change course and set itself on the right path. What is necessary today is a restoration of America’s upstanding reputation amongst the global world.
Lockheed Martin demonstrating directed energy airborne laser systems. American military and defence corporations should not be associated with tyranny, injustice and genocide. US support of the Gaza war is leading to widespread Anti-American sentiment that is further damaging America's reputation as the global security leader of the world. Photo by Lockheed Martin.
The names Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Honeywell et al should not be associated with tyranny, injustice and genocide and corporations that come under fire for ultimately having lost its moral compass, when at the start, it has been these very US military corporations that have led the pathway for engineering innovation and paved the way for a more inclusive, stable world that have become the backbone to the long-standing reputation of NATO.
We must consider the long-term effects on the damage to America’s reputation as opposed to the short-term profits of defence corporations in which we are supporting an unpopular war that not only the majority of Americans are against, but in which the entire global community has decided as being unjust, unethical and undemocratic.
It is clear that the next US administration, whether President Biden’s successor or President Trump, must make a complete break with Mr. Netanyahu’s regime and his genocidal war in order to restore America’s global standing in the world.
South Koreans protesting against the US military industrial complex across all the major cities. US support of Israel’s military actions against Gaza have been unpopular both in South Korea and Japan, where the former produces semiconductors for much of America’s military industrial complex. US support of Israel's war has led to a resurgence of Anti-American sentiment in both South Korea and Japan. Photos by Korea Herald and Yonhap News.
Loss of faith in American military power could put to test its alliances with East Asian nations that might soon shift towards Chinese influence and also empower Russia’s leadership in BRICS that would isolate American influence not only in Asia, but in the Middle East. Although Russian aggression against Ukraine had inevitably strengthened NATO, it is clear that the global world is reassessing its relationships with the US due to its support of Israel in the Gaza conflict.
Former President Trump’s Abraham Accords was the most progressive peace agreement in the Middle East in the last 30 years and set a precedent. However, much of the peace agreement and normalisation process is now in danger and could possibly be rescinded due to Israel’s military actions against Palestine which could cause a future century of chaos in the Middle Eastern region. Signing ceremony on September 2020. Photo by wikimedia commons
We must think beyond short-term profits and look to long-term gains in which American defence corporations will become the foundation of global security of every nation on earth and that power does not corrupt those who possess the power to wield it. US representatives and leaders must have the courage to reset its path to the right one - one in which embodies the values and advances the principles of upholding liberty and justice for all.
By Sierra Choi
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only in order to stir dialogue and discussion and represents the opinions of the author.