While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is often portrayed as a political improviser who seizes opportunities and dodges land mines as they occur to preserve his hold on power, he is in fact guided by a clear and consistent mission, Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn tells the Haaretz Podcast.
"Netanyahu's strategy, since the inception of his career, and even before he became a professional politician, has been to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and diminish the Palestinian national movement," said Benn.
As the war has worn on and with Netanyahu's latest decision to escalate the conflict in Gaza instead of working to end it, Benn says the contention that the argument that Netanyahu does not really share the ideology of his farthest-right coalition partners – National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – does not hold up.
"I've yet to see one area of disagreement between Netanyahu and Smotrich and Ben-Gvir," Benn said.
While the premier may "hide behind" excuses of being pushed and pulled by outside forces, Benn believes he has a firm grip on power and knows exactly what he is doing.
