Following Israel’s strikes on Damascus, Axios quoted a Trump White House official as saying, “Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time”. However, while some on the MAGA or ‘America First’ right might celebrate this as a sign that Trump might further pressure Israel into ending its, as Pope Leo XIV recently put it, ‘barbarity’, this analysis of Netanyahu as a ‘madman’ is misguided at best and deliberate obfuscation at worst.
Netanyahu is not a madman. Instead, he is a calculating sociopath who readily disregards human life if it means political survival and furthering his violent and expansionist policies throughout the Middle East.
This analysis of foreign leaders as ‘madmen’ is common in mainstream media. This framing is convenient as it is easier to simply call someone crazy than to ask less straightforward questions about genuine motivation.
Another prominent example of this is how Western media treats Russian President Vladimir Putin. Instead of asking why Russia would find it in its strategic interest to invade Ukraine, Western pundits and politicians call Putin a madman and an imperialist who wishes to rebuild the Soviet Union. By promoting these narratives, the media can avoid unauthorized questions about NATO Enlargement and the 2014 coup in Ukraine, both of which are rational explanations for why Russia might consider invading Ukraine.
Historically, Netanyahu has done numerous things that may initially seem erratic or psychotic but make perfect sense when you analyze them through the lens of maintaining power. As I laid out in a previous article, Netanyahu bolstered Hamas and encouraged Qatar to keep funding the organization in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority and prevent a stable Palestinian state from gaining recognition worldwide. By curtailing a unified front in Palestine, Netanyahu laid the groundwork for a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy, which has served his imperialistic ambitions in the current Gaza war.
Netanyahu has also used military action numerous times in the past to maintain his power domestically. For example, in 2019, Bibi used military force to launch strikes against Palestine and other Middle Eastern countries in order to garner far-right support and ensure his re-election. Again in 2021, right before a deadline to form a new government, Netanyahu and Hamas began exchanging missiles, which halted negotiations and reinforced Bibi’s image as a wartime leader, an obvious attempt to remain in power.
Hellbound and Down 