Netanyahu: “Total Victory” and the ponerology of a failed crazy uncle

The Polish researcher and psychologist Andrzej Łobaczewski described Benjamin Netanyahu without meeting him. Łobaczewski lived under Nazi occupation in Poland and then under the Communist dictatorship. In his book Political Ponerology, smuggled out of Poland in the 1980s, he sought to understand the rise of people with pathological personalities to positions of power, calling his work "ponerology" after the Greek word “poneros” meaning "oppressed by toils," or "toilsome, painful, grievous."  

Netanyahu is one of those people. His supposed obsession with some sort of total defeat of Hamas illustrates his pathology. It is not an honest expression of a rational goal for the war against Hamas. It is a marketing tool, a slogan in his eternal election campaign. Netanyahu seeks to present himself in a way that he thinks will play well with his voting base and give him advantages in negotiations. His adopted persona is your extremist old uncle. You know the type, even if none of your biological uncles fit the description. He's on the crazy side. He's done some loony things in his day, but you know he loves you. As the crazy old uncle, Netanyahu enters any negotiations with the leverage that abusive people hold: "Hold me back, or I will do something crazy!"

It doesn't work all that well because Netanyahu's cold, disturbing personality makes it difficult to convey the sense that the uncle loves you. Netanyahu doesn't emote as others do, blush when he lies, or attend funerals for hostages or soldiers. Behind each PR maneuver lies just another maneuver.

The latest iteration of this behavior came in response to the altogether banal words of the IDF spokesperson, Rear Adm. Hagari, who stated the obvious: "Hamas is an idea. Anyone who thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong. The political echelon needs to find an alternative – or it will remain." Hagari punctured the balloon of Netanyahu's posturing that seeks to continue the war for "total victory" without articulating a clear goal for the morning after.

The reality of victories is incontestable. Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, numerous Nazis remained. Following the defeat of the Soviet Union, numerous Communists remained. Ideas do not go away, especially pernicious ones. Hagari criticized the notion that following the destruction of its military and political capabilities, we can expect support for Hamas to disappear magically. Netanyahu is on record articulating such a magical idea using the undefinable term "total victory." This Hagari described as "throwing sand in the eyes of the public."

In typical Netanyahu fashion, when challenged by Hagari's statement of a banal truth, his office released a statement that side-stepped. He did not acknowledge the accuracy of the criticism or take responsibility for demagogically misleading the public. The text of the response did not even deny Hagari's statement: "'Netanyahu has defined one of the war's objectives as the destruction of Hamas's military and governmental capabilities,' his office tweeted in response. 'The IDF is, of course, committed to this.'"

The episode seems just another meaningless kerfuffle, except that it isn't. These exercises in political ponerology hurt the country. Suspicion grows that the war is dragging on because Netanyahu has no interest in ending it. He will not articulate a goal for the morning after. "Total victory" is an empty slogan, one of a long list of phrases that pathologically obscure rather than clarify. Think of "all-natural," "none are free until all are free," "nothing to lose but their chains," "Make America great again," and so on.

For Netanyahu, the advantage is obvious. He will be able to propagandize any outcome to look like a victory. Supposedly, Groucho Marx  said: "These are my principles, and if you don't like them, I have others." Netanyahu is a grand illustration of political ponerology, among other things, because he lives by this motto.

Netanyahu's dilemma is that any statement of what his "total victory" would look like carries high costs for his political future. Is it a long-term Israeli occupation of  Gaza alongside reconstruction of the settlements? Smotrich and Ben Gvir would love it. The military and most of the public desperately want to avoid it. Is it a return of the PA to Gaza, which the US advocates? Such an outcome would confound Netanyahu's divide-and-conquer strategy toward the Palestinians. It would further expose his failure since the divide-and-conquer strategy was his failed approach to Hamas rule in Gaza and exploded in our faces on October 7th. Moreover, since he doesn't clearly define victory, he sees himself as immune to being found wanting when it fails to materialize.

From Netanyahu's cold, self-centered, politically ponerological perspective, the situation is not bad. He is in power as Prime Minister. The suffering of the rest of us touches him not at all.