Netanyahu is promising a forever war.

On Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he would not accept any permanent ceasefire. He forecasted that the most intense period of Israeli military violence may be drawing to a close, but allowed only for negotiations to continue for prisoner swaps. 

Beyond the nine-month-long genocide that Israel has wrought on Gaza, Netanyahu is now pushing towards full-scale war with Lebanon — which could drag Syria, Iran, and the entire region into the conflict.

Forever war

For months, the Israeli government has been dragging its feet and creating impossible conditions during ceasefire negotiations.

Now that the Israeli government has engineered a total humanitarian crisis in Gaza, it can continue its genocide by attrition, so long as there is no permanent ceasefire deal. Meanwhile, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which is strongest in southern Lebanon, has expanded in recent weeks. 

Instead, he’s pushing to expand Israel’s bombing of Lebanon into a second front of the war, one which could destabilize the entire region. Since October, the Israeli military has been regularly bombing southern Lebanon, including chemical attacks using illegal white phosphorus. But a full-scale war would likely drag in Syria and Iran — and have devastating consequences in Lebanon and beyond.

In a piece on the future collapse of Zionism, Israeli historian Ilan Pappé predicts that “once Israel realizes the magnitude of the crisis” it is facing, “it will unleash ferocious and uninhibited force to try to contain it.”

Why is this happening?

1. Netanyahu’s desperate grip on power.

Netanyahu’s fragile coalition government depends on support from ultra-right-wing parties, and will fall apart whenever the fighting stops. Extremist Israeli politicians Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have threatened to quit if any ceasefire deal is reached, and their exit would collapse the coalition. If Netanyahu’s government collapses, he’s not only facing an end to his time as prime minister — but also a corruption trial which could well end up with him behind bars.

2. Israel wants U.S. weapons — and U.S. companies want to sell them.

When the U.S. sends billions to Israel to buy weapons, those weapons are purchased from U.S. firms. So the U.S. government sends billions in tax dollars to Israel, which sends billions back to the U.S. military industrial complex, to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and others. Expanding the war means expanding Israeli purchases of U.S. arms. 

In Sunday’s interview, Netanyahu openly complained that Biden has slowed weapons shipments to Israel, in what could also be a signal to the U.S. weapons industry to lean on Biden and counteract the pressure of the Palestinian solidarity movement’s demand for the U.S. to stop arming Israel.

Israel’s entire military strategy, and its ability to continue the genocide, depends on a steady flow of U.S. weapons — so Netanyahu is doing everything he can to keep them coming. Expanding into another front of the war, even if Biden is vocally opposed to this plan, is one way he can force Biden’s hand. 

On the other side of things, U.S. weapons manufacturers play a massive role in the U.S. economy, with an equivalent amount of influence on the U.S. government, particularly in terms of defense and foreign policy. Following a $14 billion weapons deal between Israel and the U.S. in April, they’re just as happy to keep profiting off their role in arming a genocide. 

Biden’s pause on weapons shipments to Israel in May was the first real indication that he could stand up to these pressures and stop funding a genocide that has killed tens of thousands and is starving millions. But even that limited move was met with open defiance and escalation from the Israeli prime minister.

Our demand is clear: stop arming Israel.

As the election approaches in November, our pressure matters more than ever. That’s why we’re keeping up the demand to stop arming Israel.

Your elected officials need to keep hearing from you. Take a minute now to send a message to Congress and let them know the U.S. must stop arming Israel’s genocide.

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