Israel swings back and forth at mercy of others, lacking a strategy

The maestro, Benjamin Netanyahu, a master of the brush himself, specializing in shaping public perception, found himself this week, once again, dragged between diplomatic paralysis, a wild espionage scandal, and the creation of constitutional and anti-democratic chaos.

Interestingly, in response to this vacuum, more and more civil political initiatives are emerging, led by concerned Israelis seeking to propose rational frameworks for Israel and the Middle East. The Coalition for Regional Security, for example (full disclosure: I am one of its founders), offers a political plan centered on advancing normalization with Saudi Arabia and expanding the Abraham Accords into a security framework (Magen Avraham) to ensure the safety of the region’s moderate nations.

But as always, Netanyahu prioritizes appeasing [far-right coalition partner Bezalel] Smotrich and scoring points with his political base over seizing any opportunity for diplomatic progress that could extricate Israel from its endless war cycle and put it on a path toward regional cooperation. BS instead of MBS. That’s the only reasonable explanation for the absurd proposal to establish a Palestinian state in Saudi territory—an idea that rattled regional governments and infuriated every serious partner Israel could and should work with.