The idiom, wag the dog, implies the creation of a diversion — usually for political gain. Benjamin Netanyahu has done just that — wagged the dog, so to speak — by using a series of conflicts, beginning with the one in Gaza, as a diversionary tool to ensure his political survival after he had been cornered on corruption charges: a six-month-long, exhaustive investigation by The New York Times, collating responses from over 110 officials not only in Israel but also in the United States of America and the Arab world, along with government records and other documents, has come to this conclusion. Some of the findings of this investigation are damning for the prime mister of Israel. For instance, it alleges that Mr Netanyahu’s predations on Israel’s judiciary — a strategy that caused turmoil at home — which conveyed an impression to Israel’s adversaries, including Hamas, of Israel being weak, may have prompted Hamas’s horrible attack on the country that ignited the conflict. Significantly, Mr Netanyahu, the probe found, had dismissed intelligence warnings of an impending strike. Subsequently, he decided to align with domestic far-Right allies and — this is as revealing — resisted a truce with Saudi Arabia brokered by the US: together, these measures ensured the continuity of the war. As Israel began to expand the conflict, pulverising the Hezbollah commanders and, then, neutralising Iran’s defences, Mr Netanyahu hoped that the gains on the battlefield would begin to accrue in the political arena.
What Mr Netanyahu is relying on for his political resurrection is the dark art of distraction. This is a tried-and-tested policy in the world of realpolitik. In fact, at a time when political narratives around the world are having to be increasingly mindful of optics, deflection of public attention from the real objective of policy action has become central to survive at the top. The moral obligations that are steamrolled in the process are perceived to be collateral damage. But Mr Netanyahu is not alone in pulling off this sleight of hand: he has an able, influential — and complicit — patron in the form of the US that is ever eager to protect Israel from the consequences of its transgressions. But is the ruse working? A survey by the Israel Democracy Institute revealed recently that only 40% of Israel’s public trusts Mr Netanyahu. This will not be music to Mr Netanyahu’s ears. Does it then portend an everlasting war in the region?