Prosecute Benjamin Netanyahu for Financing a U.S.-Designated Terrorist Group
There's a good case for it
The problem with the rhetoric of Republican pro-Israel hawks is in a situation like this, they pressure the administration in exactly the wrong way. We should not be giving Israel carte blanche, and what they should be doing is pressuring Biden to be tougher on the Netanyahu regime.
It needs to be done in the right way. And one reason this needs to be done, as I’ve said here repeatedly, is because Israel’s drift away from the U.S. poses risks to American Jews. They need to be forced to choose the U.S.
The entire Israeli right’s perspective is free-riding on implicit American security guarantees. Ultimately the tough-guy act you’re seeing from some of these people exists because of the Israelis’ bad behavior in Washington. It’s necessary to draw some lines here.
It seems pretty clear that Netanyahu’s career is over. But his downfall needs to happen in a way that makes clear to the Israeli right that the same sort of radicalism will not be permitted going forward. A fairly parsimonious way of doing that is to prosecute Netanyahu.
There’s a very good case for doing it. A lot of hawks are trying to have it both ways with the current Israeli government, wanting to be maximally tough on the purportedly existential threat of Hamas, while wanting Benjamin Netanyahu to escape culpability for his well-reported support of it. This just isn’t serious, and the public isn’t going to accept it. The DOJ should prosecute him for his involvement in financing a U.S-designated terrorist group. There shouldn’t be an Israeli exception for funding terror.
The Israel lobby and the hasbaristas on Twitter will frequently say that everything in Gaza is run by Hamas, which is dubious but let’s grant the point for a moment. If that’s true, the funds Israel approved to go to Gaza via Qatar have ended up in the hands of terrorists. Ergo, Netanyahu has been supporting terrorism. This isn’t too complicated. We’re past the point the Israel lobby can just bamboozle people about it.
The Israelis are extremely overbroad in their claims of sovereign immunity—a court recently rejected NSO Group’s claim to it. Think about what even claiming this implies: The Israelis consider NSO Group entitled to sovereign immunity, while its technology is being integrated into the U.S. security apparatus. If Republicans can’t admit this is a risk they don’t deserve to govern.
To hold Benjamin Netanyahu accountable for his longstanding support for Hamas would also make clear what Israel’s position is in the world, which is a feature rather than a bug in this moment.