Survival over state: NYT probe alleges Netanyahu prolonged Gaza war for political gain
A six‑month New York Times investigation says Netanyahu has prolonged the Gaza war to stay in power. He now continues to block new ceasefire efforts despite mounting costs.
TJI Wrap
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Image: Abir Sultan/AP).
Published: 15 July 2025
Last updated: 15 July 2025
A new damning New York Times investigation paints a portrait of an Israeli leader who, rather than acting decisively to end the war, prolonged it, shifted blame, and prioritised political survival over national unity and human cost.
Speaking with over 100 officials, the wide-ranging probe alleges that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made wartime decisions primarily to serve his own personal political interests.
According to the six-month investigation, warnings came early. In July 2023, as Netanyahu recovered from heart surgery, senior defence officials allegedly warned him that Hamas and other enemies viewed Israel’s domestic political turmoil as an opportunity to strike. His response was dismissive: “Deal with the protesters,” he reportedly told the Shin Bet chief.
Hours later, his coalition passed a law gutting the Supreme Court’s reasonableness clause, deepening internal chaos. Two days after that, Hamas leaders, in a closed-door meeting, decided to act.
Minutes after the 7 October 2023 attack began, at the nadir of his political career, the report said Netanyahu was already laying the groundwork for his survival. “I don’t see anything in the intelligence,” he said in one of his first phone calls that day — his first deflection of blame and an early sign of how he would seek to prolong his political life by faulting security and intelligence chiefs for failing to prevent the attack.
Months later, as ceasefire talks stalled, American officials cited polls showing that more than 50 per cent of Israelis supported a hostage deal rather than continued war. “Not 50 per cent of my voters,” Netanyahu reportedly replied.
As fighting raged in southern Israel, Netanyahu’s team allegedly briefed sympathetic influencers, telling them it was the generals who bore responsibility for Israel’s worst-ever defence failure. At the same time, they sought to prevent leaks of conversations that might implicate Netanyahu; stopped the military from creating official records of meetings with him; and arranged for generals — including army chief Herzi Halevi — to be searched for hidden microphones.
Later in the war, the report found Netanyahu’s team ordered archivists to alter the official records of his earliest phone calls on October 7. They then allegedly leaked a sensitive document to a foreign newspaper — circumventing Israel’s military censorship system — in order to discredit Netanyahu’s critics, including distraught families of hostages still in Gaza.
Choosing Ben-Gvir and Smotrich
In the opening hours of the war, the investigation reports that Netanyahu rejected an offer from Israel’s opposition leader to form a unity government, preferring to remain in a coalition with far-right extremists who were more likely to let him stay in power after the war. That decision left him beholden throughout the conflict to far-right demands — particularly regarding whether and when to reach a truce with Hamas.
When momentum towards a ceasefire seemed to grow, Netanyahu suddenly emphasised military objectives he had previously appeared less interested in pursuing — and which top military officials told him were not worth the cost — such as capturing the southern city of Rafah and later occupying the Gaza–Egypt border.
During intense talks with American counterparts in May 2024, Saudi leaders signalled readiness to formalise ties with Israel — on the conditions that the Gaza war ended; the US made concessions to Saudi Arabia; and Israel began recognising Palestinian statehood. “Let’s finish this,” Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said in a late-night meeting on the US–Saudi aspects of the deal.
Netanyahu’s resistance to this path was one of many issues that strained US–Israeli relations under President Biden, the investigation reports. As the Gaza death toll mounted in December 2023, Biden grew so frustrated during one call with Netanyahu that he allegedly abruptly ended the conversation.
Months later, as ceasefire talks stalled, American officials cited polls showing that more than 50 per cent of Israelis supported a hostage deal rather than continued war. “Not 50 per cent of my voters,” Netanyahu reportedly replied.
Iran strikes and the coalition's survival
Netanyahu allegedly informed a key Haredi lawmaker of the impending attack to prevent his coalition from collapsing. Moshe Gafni, a lawmaker from United Torah Judaism and leader of the Haredi party’s Degel Hatorah faction, was summoned by the Prime Minister. During their meeting, Netanyahu disclosed the upcoming strikes after Gafni signed a confidentiality agreement.
Two days later, Gafni and the Degel Hatorah faction voted with the coalition, preventing the collapse of Netanyahu’s government. The following night, Israeli Air Force fighter jets took off towards Iran. “The Iran strike was the only thing that kept the Haredim from dissolving the government. And Bibi knew that,” Israel Cohen, a journalist and Gafni confidant, told the New York Times.
Netanyahu denies New York Times report
Responding to the New York Times exposé, the Prime Minister’s Office said the report “defames Israel, its brave people and soldiers, and its Prime Minister”. It claimed that the senior officials cited in the report— “whose anonymous, politically motivated supporters are widely quoted throughout the article” — had since been replaced.
The Prime Minister’s Office added that when Netanyahu “achieved hostage release deals he deemed acceptable, he pushed them through even when his coalition partners voted against them and bolted the government... Prime Minister Netanyahu was never concerned with his political survival, but with his country’s survival. He is carrying out his life’s mission: securing the future of the one and only Jewish state.”
New ceasefire talks sabotaged
Last week in Washington, Netanyahu expressed optimism about a possible Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas, though Israeli analysts believe he may not truly want a comprehensive deal to end the war because of opposition within his coalition.
President Trump has been pushing for a ceasefire and an end to the Gaza war. “The belief that Trump genuinely wanted a deal was the main source of optimism surrounding Netanyahu’s trip. After all, how could Netanyahu say no to Trump — less than a month after the US president ordered a strike on Iran’s nuclear sites?,” Amir Tibon wrote in Haaretz.
“But that optimism proved unfounded. Netanyahu spent nearly a week in Washington, including two extended meetings with Trump. Yet by the time the Israeli Prime Minister left the city, negotiations to end the war and save the hostages were no closer to resolution. Netanyahu continues to insist on terms he knows Hamas will reject, thereby prolonging the war, extending the suffering of hostages, and ultimately humiliating the Trump administration, which now appears ineffective in its efforts to broker a ceasefire,” Tibon concluded.
Netanyahu dismisses polls showing support for ceasefire
A new poll aired Friday on Channel 12 has revealed that 74 per cent of Israelis — including 60 per cent of voters who backed Netanyahu’s coalition — support an agreement with Hamas that would release all the hostages at once in exchange for ending the Gaza war.
Only eight per cent supported Netanyahu’s proposed deal, which would release half the hostages and set the stage for negotiations on a permanent ceasefire and the release of the rest. Twelve per cent rejected any deal that ends the war, while six per cent were undecided.
Asked why Netanyahu was insisting on a phased hostage deal, 49 per cent of respondents said his reasons were political, 36 per cent said security-related, and 15 per cent didn’t know.
In response, Netanyahu published a video on Sunday sharply criticising the media for spreading “Hamas propaganda,” saying polls that show most Israelis support a hostage deal are “manufactured”. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum accused Netanyahu of torpedoing a deal yet again, “presenting a false representation that we cannot reach a comprehensive agreement, in opposition to the people’s will”.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s father urges Netanyahu to stop ‘taking credit’
Jon Polin, father of murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, asked Netanyahu to “stop claiming” credit for returning his son to Israel.
In a Facebook post, Polin criticised Netanyahu for saying his “forceful application of combined military and diplomatic pressure has so far achieved the release of 205 hostages out of a total of 255.” Polin wrote that this “insensitive claim whitewashes the lives of the 20 per cent of the 205 who were taken into Gaza alive, survived a period of torture, and were then killed in captivity, including my son Hersh.”
He added that before Hersh’s murder, “a negotiated deal was possible to release a number of hostages, including Hersh and at least three others of the five with whom he was held,” blaming Netanyahu for instead choosing to continue the risky military operation in Rafah. That decision, he said, led to the execution of Hersh and the five hostages he was held with.
“Please do not take credit for ‘achieving the release’ of Hersh,” Polin concluded. “This is offensive to Hersh and to our family.”
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Comments1
Sergio Mariscal21 July at 01:07 pm
Can anybody trust the NYT on Israel anymore?