The First-Ever Trial of an Israeli Prime Minister Is Also a Trial of the Country’s Judicial System

Sunday was the first day of Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-awaited trial on three corruption-related charges. At issue, writes Shmuel Rosner, are not so much the facts of the case but the legality of Netanyahu’s actions. For his own part, Netanyahu has accused the Israeli justice system itself overstepping its bounds, and many Israelis support such a claim, as Rosner writes:

[A] significant portion of the Israeli public does not consider the proceedings that began today as Netanyahu’s trial. They consider them as the trial of the legal system. The charges: megalomania, overstepping authority, excessive use of legal force, pushing an ideological agenda. In fact—and there is a vast pool of evidence to prove it—what the public thinks about Netanyahu’s trial is generally analogous to what the public thinks about the legal system. Those who believe that it is a thorough, honest, and trustworthy system tend to accept the need for Netanyahu to be prosecuted. Those who doubt the legal system’s motivation and professionalism tend to oppose Netanyahu’s prosecution.

It is a sad day to see the prime minister standing trial. It is a reassuring day to see that even a prime minister must face the court. It is a fascinating day, in which the best and the brightest face each other for a high-noon battle. And yes, it is also a scary day, in which mighty forces clash and we, the witnesses, should beware of the fallout.

Read more at Jewish Journal

More about: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli politics

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF