Netanyahu main obstacle to peace, Michaeli says
The leader of Israel’s Labour Party has said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the main obstacle to peace.
Merav Michaeli accused him of building a right-wing propaganda network that has “brainwashed” Israelis and made any deal with Palestinians extremely difficult.
Despite the trauma suffered from the fallout of the October 7 attacks by Hamas and the desolation of Gaza, the former transport minister still clings to the hope that the country can “build a better future”.
“He has been the main obstacle to peace, for sure, and he certainly has prevented peace or any political solution in all of his years in politics,” Ms Michaeli said of Mr Netanyahu.
“But that doesn’t mean it cannot change.”
The Israeli politician launched a stinging attack on Mr Netanyahu’s record in office, saying he blocked “something positive happening in the region with the Palestinians”.
“One of the reasons for cultivating Hamas was to make sure that there’s no peace because that would mean a Palestinian state, which is a big no-no for him,” she said.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said last month that Israel financed the creation of Hamas, publicly contradicting Mr Netanyahu who has denied such allegations.
The Israeli Labour Party, which until 1977 provided all the country’s prime ministers, has always supported the Palestine-Israel peace process.
However, before the latest war in Gaza, there was concern Israel had significantly moved to the right, particularly among Jewish youths.
In 30 years of front-line politics, Mr Netanyahu had “built a huge industry of propaganda”, Ms Michaeli said, through which he is “brainwashing Israeli society’s minds with a narrative that says the [political] right is good for Jews and the left is good for Arabs”. The Knesset member said, because all Jewish youths have to serve in the Israeli army, this has exposed them to Hamas or Hezbollah militants, which, in her opinion, has cultivated their right-wing views.
The opposition leader suggested the Prime Minister might still calculate that a peace deal could allow him to remain in office longer.
Polls suggest he would heavily lose in any general election.
Ms Michaeli said: “It’s more likely that he will not go for peace but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, even though he does not deserve any benefit, that maybe a miracle can happen.”
With deep distrust opening up between Israeli Jews and Palestinians after the Hamas assault, the path to a peaceful society appears intractable. However, Ms Michaeli said the situation was not irreversible.
“Look at Germany and France and remember where they were 75 years ago, after how many years of bloody, horrible conflict – it was unimaginable that it would ever be different,” she said.
She said the two-state solution was a “real, tangible possibility” that could be unilaterally imposed.
“While Netanyahu is opposed, it could be put to Israel as a fact,” she said.
She criticised Hamas for making “the strategic decision to invest their money in terror, rather than in building” a society.