Opinion A Brief History of the Netanyahu-Hamas Alliance

[radicalleft]

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-20/ty-article-opinion/.premium/a-brief-history-of-the-netanyahu-hamas-alliance/0000018b-47d9-d242-abef-57ff1be90000

For 14 years, Netanyahu's policy was to keep Hamas in power; the pogrom of October 7, 2023, helps the Israeli prime minister preserve his own rule

Much ink has been spilled describing the longtime relationship – rather, alliance – between Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas. And still, the very fact that there has been close cooperation between the Israeli prime minister (with the support of many on the right) and the fundamentalist organization seemingly evaporated from most of the current analyses – everyone’s talking about “failures,” “mistakes” and “contzeptziot” (fixed conceptions). Given this, there is a need not only to review the history of cooperation but also to conclude unequivocally: The pogrom of October 7, 2023, helps Netanyahu, and not for the first time, to preserve his rule, certainly in the short term.

The MO of Netanyahu’s policy since his return to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2009 has and continues to be, on the one hand, bolstering the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and, on the other, weakening the Palestinian Authority.

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I am beginning to think that Bibi really doesn't care about the small part of land that is the Gaza strip - it's a distraction for the chance at a bigger catch: taking complete control of the west bank

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https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-01/ty-article/.premium/far-right-israeli-knesset-member-zvi-sukkot-to-head-subcommittee-on-the-west-bank/0000018b-8b93-db71-a7df-ffdfd1ea0000

Far-right Israeli Knesset Member Zvi Sukkot to Head Subcommittee on the West Bank

Knesset member MK Zvi Sukkot of the far-right Religious Zionism party, is due to be appointed chairman of a Knesset subcommittee on West Bank issues, his party announced on Wednesday. Sukkot was appointed to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, replacing his party colleague Moshe Solomon, the outgoing chairman of the subcommittee on West Bank issues.

[LauraInLA]

1. Important to keep this in mind. Let us not forget. EOM

[stopdiggin]

2. This is fairly well trod territory (as OP notes)

And the only caveat I would offer - is that I think this was always much more of a 'divide and conquer' strategy, than the 'alliance, cooperation' terminology that is sometimes employed.

(Perhaps the level of 'cooperation' here was much more hands on and material than I would suppose. But I have to admit I would be very surprised.)