The lack of surprise stems from modest expectations: I have never anticipated from this man any constructive stance on the region’s crises. Extremism has been the governing principle of his policies—at least since the start of his current term.
I shall set aside the alleged doctrinal underpinnings of “Greater Israel.” There are scholars far better equipped than I to unpack and refute its theological claims. My concern here is the political meaning of these unacceptable statements—their signals, consequences, and how we ought to respond.
In my reading, Netanyahu’s declaration was a watershed, delivered with brazen clarity and at a moment devoid of prudence or respect for facts.
He appears to believe he has secured a string of victories—whether in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, or against Iran—and imagines that the path is now open for Israel to “integrate” into the region as a prelude to dominating it.
What struck me most was that his statement amounted to an unambiguous message to the Arab states: this is the true face of Israel; this is its project; indeed, this is its strategy for the coming phase.
By the Israeli reading, Arabs should prepare themselves henceforth to deal with Israel based on this expansionist design.
It was therefore no accident that Netanyahu chose this moment.
He sought to prepare the ground for a different kind of engagement with the region—one in which Arabs are expected to acquiesce to an expansionist Israel without protest. The American-backed “Greater Israel,” in this telling, would be the new template meant to prevail.
Allow me, then, to pose several questions that Mr. Netanyahu would do well to ponder—questions whose honest answers would clarify the picture for him and us.
Does he genuinely believe that the acts of mass violence his forces have unleashed—whether in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria, or Lebanon—constitute a “decisive military victory,” given that these are territories and states with no meaningful air defences and no strategic deterrent?
Does he imagine that the measures Israel is taking across the region will draw Arab states closer and ease Israel’s “integration,” or will they instead erect a formidable barrier to any such integration?
In the shadow of a rogue, ultra-extremist coalition, does he expect Arab governments to establish diplomatic relations with Israel—or to deepen existing ones—without profound reconsideration?
Is Mr. Netanyahu convinced that Arab reactions to his government’s policies have peaked, and that Israel will suffer no real consequences, even though many states worldwide reject those policies and some have already taken political and economic steps in response? Or does he grasp that Arab capitals will be compelled to revisit their calculations regarding the erroneous course Tel Aviv has chosen—whatever the cost?
Has his hubris reached a point of no return, blinding him to Israel’s actual position regionally and internationally—and even to the growing opposition to his course at home?
Do the peace treaties Israel signed with six Arab states no longer matter in his view? Does he now consider himself released from their obligations—particularly concerning non-interference in those states’ sovereignty?
With his coalition’s popularity eroding by the day, does he truly believe “Greater Israel” is within reach—that this expansionist project is easily implemented and that no political, military, security, or popular obstacles, regionally or internationally, can stop it?
I hope Mr. Netanyahu will answer these questions soberly, rather than through the haze of false triumphalism.
The logical answers will shape Israel’s future in this region, for good or ill.
In my view, his latest pronouncements have harmed Israel—not merely by exposing, once again, its true face, but by shifting it from a phase where regional integration might have been conceivable to a phase in which alarm bells must ring across the Arab world.
We are put on notice to approach an expansive “new Israel” with a different calculus, one defined by caution, vigilance, and preparation for adverse contingencies.
My conviction, which admits of no doubt, is that the Arab position—whatever difficulties surround it today—will not, in the end, accept any Israeli expansion that encroaches on the territory of any Arab state, nor will it acquiesce to Israeli hegemony over the region—economically, militarily, or otherwise.
In sum, we face an Israeli leadership that is both extreme and reckless, intent on resurrecting threadbare notions under the banner of “Greater Israel.” This is the grand illusion that Netanyahu and others believe they can realize.
I am confident that it will not come to pass. Yet confidence alone is not a policy.
Illusions must be smothered early, and that requires seriousness and a disciplined plan to confront this expansionist project by every available means—public and discreet alike.
If we do so, Netanyahu’s delusions will scatter in the winds.
*The writer is the Deputy Director of the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS)
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