Netanyahu’s Spartan Legacy

Israeli forces started pushing into Gaza City on Tuesday as part of a renewed military offensive into an area where famine was declared last month. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shrugged off a rising chorus of domestic and international condemnation, arguing that it was necessary to retake the city to prevent Hamas from reconstituting its forces.

The operation was preceded by days of devastating airstrikes in Gaza City that leveled whole apartment blocks. While Israeli forces have ordered everyone in the city to evacuate, residents and aid groups say there is nowhere safe to go.

“There is not a single day without bombings and deaths in the south, even in the so-called humanitarian zones,” Fatima al-Zahra Sahweil, a media researcher based in Gaza City, told the Guardian. “So, would I just be running from death to death?”

Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, which started in response to the brutal Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, is approaching the two-year mark with prospects for a ceasefire dim as ever. The humanitarian disaster in the enclave has resulted in findings of genocide—most recently this week by a U.N. commission of inquiry—and Netanyahu’s government continues to annex large parcels of land in the occupied West Bank. All this has taken a steep toll on Israel’s international standing, even in Western countries that historically lent their unconditional support.

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The most recent sign came from the European Union, Israel’s biggest trading partner. The bloc’s executive branch, the European Commission, confirmed this week that it will propose suspending free trade provisions with Israel in response to the ongoing war in Gaza and human rights violations in the West Bank.

The measure still requires approval by a “qualified majority” of the EU, including member states representing at least 65 percent of the population. That is currently a long shot, as Germany and Italy—which together account for almost one-third of the population—are widely seen as opposing it.

Still, the fact that this is even being discussed is a flashing red warning for Israel, given 29 percent of its exports go to the EU. And the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, hinted on Tuesday that even if Brussels stops short of a full reimposition of duties, it could still impose alternative measures. Major European countries—including Italy and Germany—have already imposed full or partial arms embargoes on Israel.

Netanyahu acknowledges Israel’s deepening isolation, even if he remains defiant about it. Speaking at a conference Monday, he warned that Israel’s economy would need to become more self-sufficient, akin to “super Sparta”—essentially a high-tech version of the ancient Greek city state known for its militaristic culture.

Those remarks triggered a stock market sell-off in Tel Aviv and drew widespread condemnation from the country’s private sector. “Israel isn’t Sparta, such vision will make it difficult for us to survive in an evolving global world,” said the Israeli Business Forum, a coalition of the country’s 200 largest companies, in a statement. “The government must urgently promote ending the longest war in Israel’s history, the release of all hostages, and a date for elections.”

Business leaders are not the only ones demanding a ceasefire. Mass protests have intensified in Israel in recent weeks amid fears that the renewed military operations in northern Gaza will doom any remaining hopes of recovering the remaining Israeli hostages believed to be held there. Hundreds of thousands of people turned out on a single day last month—one of the largest demonstrations since the war began.

Netanyahu clearly appears willing to tolerate indefinite hostilities and economic isolation. The question is whether Israelis are willing to bear the associated costs—and for how long.

Elliot Waldman is World Politics Review’s editor-in-chief.

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