Benjamin Netanyahu uses Gaza's ruins to hide his failures
By Aoife Gallagher · Reporting from Dublin ·
As Israelis mourn the October 7 attacks, Benjamin Netanyahu uses the ruins of Gaza to hide his security failures and shield himself from accountability.
Israelis are mourning a day of horror, and they have every right to. The October 7 attacks were a slaughter. NBC News reports that 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. But the grief of the survivors is being weaponized by a man who failed them. Benjamin Netanyahu is wrong to frame the subsequent war as a simple act of defense. He is using the ruins of Gaza to mask his own security collapses and to shield himself from the law.
The cost of calculated chaos
The tragedy of October 7 was not an accident. It was the result of a strategy. Netanyahu’s prior political calculus involved the flow of Qatari funds. He sought to maintain a divided Palestinian leadership. This strategy of calculated chaos left border communities like Nahal Oz exposed. The Atlantic describes the return of survivors to these borderlands, where the state's betrayal felt as sharp as the attack.
The First Intifada shares a mechanism with this tragedy. It was a grassroots eruption of violence born from decades of systemic occupation and frustration. The periphery's desperation clashed with a state's security apparatus. Hamas claims the October 7 attacks were a response to decades of Israeli aggression. While the slaughter of civilians is inexcusable, the eruption was predictable.
The machinery of erasure
The response to the attack has been a campaign of erasure. NBC News reports that more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed. About 80% of all structures in Gaza are believed to have been damaged. This is not a surgical operation to destroy Hamas. It is the crushing of a population.
The 2014 Gaza War established a cycle where the state uses leverage to impose a crushing cost on the periphery. This is the blueprint for the current devastation. The 2008 Russo-Georgian War mirrored this, with a state leveraging military superiority to crush a region while claiming victimhood.
The legal record is now clear. Navi Pillay found an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu. His charges include crimes of starvation as a method of warfare.
The violence has not stopped at the border. In early 2025, Israeli forces or settlers killed 76 Palestinians. The U.N. reported that some 6,500 Palestinians have been displaced by settler attacks.
The election of avoidance
Israel now faces an election on October 27. France 24 notes that the country is deeply divided. A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 62% of Israelis say the October 7 attacks will be a key factor in their vote. Netanyahu claims Israel is the strongest country in the Middle East. His rivals, like Naftali Bennett, call the attack a "colossal failure" of the state.
The ablest advocate for the government would argue that Israel has an inherent right to defend itself. President Isaac Herzog says the nation yearns for peace but must fight terror. Donald Trump’s Board of Peace claims that durable security for Israel is the only foundation for peace. This is the language of the big capitals. It falls apart when you look at the record. You cannot build a "foundation for peace" on the ruins of 80% of a city.
The historical pattern suggests that wartime incumbents often survive the immediate aftermath of a surprise attack. The 1973 Yom Kippur War is the precedent. Golda Meir's government retained power shortly after the conflict despite immense trauma. For this to differ, the Israeli electorate would need to prioritize accountability over the illusion of continuity.
The human cost remains high. Since the ceasefire, 1,467 people have been killed in Gaza. The last living hostages returned on October 13, 2025. The final captive's body was recovered in January 2026. At 6:29 a.m., families still remember the minute that changed their lives.
Benjamin Netanyahu will likely secure a narrow plurality in the October 27 elections. He will consolidate right-wing nationalist support to sideline demands for an independent public inquiry. This is the tragedy of power in the Middle East. The man who presided over the greatest security failure in the state's history will use the ruins of Gaza to shield himself from the law. He will survive the ballot, but he has already lost the moral argument.