There was a time, not long ago, when Benjamin Netanyahu fancied himself as the architect of a brave new region. It was a vision unencumbered by either geography or morality, and centered squarely around one man’s delusions of grandeur. From podiums in Tel Aviv to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Netanyahu peddled his dreams of a “New Middle East” — a landscape of normalization, prosperity, and strategic dominance under Israel’s watchful eye.
On September 22, 2023, he unveiled a literal map of this fantasy. It was proudly green, unified, and conspicuously absent of one very real people: the Palestinians. Historic Palestine was not only missing - it had been scrubbed away entirely. The Occupied Territories, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem - all rendered irrelevant. Palestine had been photoshopped out of Netanyahu’s imagination, and he expected the world to applaud.
But applause was in short supply. His address was barely attended. And what little attention it garnered came not from awe, but from unease. The absence of Palestine was not a Freudian slip; it was a deliberate erasure.
Still, for a fleeting moment, Netanyahu looked invincible. The Abraham Accords were expanding, the Arab world’s fatigue with the Palestinian cause seemed tangible, and the Biden administration, ever cautious, was hardly in the mood to challenge its most entitled ally. Gaza, long blockaded, was under the illusion of control. The West Bank had been muted, thanks in no small part to a weakened Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu stood atop a pyramid of complacency - both international and domestic.
Then came October 7.
What followed was not just a military catastrophe for Israel, but a geopolitical rupture that stripped away the layers of Netanyahu’s illusions. His immediate reaction was to do what he has always done best: double down. The world, initially sympathetic to Israel’s loss, soon recoiled as the Israeli military unleashed an indiscriminate campaign on Gaza. The figures alone were harrowing - tens of thousands dead, the majority of them women and children, whole neighborhoods reduced to dust, hospitals bombed with impunity. International patience wore thin. Allies like the UK began imposing partial arms embargoes. France, attempting a balancing act, called for a ceasefire while brutally suppressing domestic voices demanding the same. Even Washington, long the umbrella shielding Israel from the storms of international law, started to express unease. President Joe Biden, who had granted Netanyahu carte blanche, found himself tethered to a political corpse. Analysts didn’t hesitate to cite his blind support for Israel as a key factor in the Democrats’ underwhelming performance in the 2024 elections.
As Netanyahu’s failures mounted, he reached for the Trump card - quite literally. Here, surely, was the strongman who would let Israel do as it pleased: bomb Iran, displace Palestinians en masse, fracture Syria further, escalate against the Houthis, and enforce an authoritarian peace in Gaza.
At first, Trump seemed to deliver. He sent heavier munitions, issued threats against Tehran, and greenlit operations against Yemen’s Houthis. But bluster soon gave way to realpolitik. Tehran, unbowed, entered negotiations. The Houthis absorbed strikes and continued operations. The U.S. quietly drew back - even announcing the withdrawal of the USS Harry S. Truman from the region. In perhaps the most humiliating twist, the U.S. brokered the release of a U.S.-Israeli captive through direct negotiation with Hamas - bypassing Israel entirely.
And then came Trump’s speech in Riyadh, where he chose diplomacy over demagoguery. Sanctions on Syria were lifted, and Iran was offered a path to negotiation. Netanyahu’s strategic vision - such as it ever was - lay in tatters.
His response? More bombs. More blood. More devastation. Netanyahu escalated military strikes against Gaza’s hospitals, but patients. It was a grotesque message to Washington and the Arab world: I will not stop. What he failed to grasp is that the world has begun to move on - not from Israel, but from him.
Within Israel, he now faces massive protests and cratering public approval. Once celebrated as the country’s longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu has become the face of its moral and strategic decay. Even longtime allies have begun to pull away. Emmanuel Macron, hardly a radical, called Israel’s blockade “shameful.” Netanyahu, in a fit of rage, accused the French president of spreading “blood libels” and standing with Hamas.
It was the kind of disproportionate overreaction that has become Netanyahu’s trademark - rage in place of reflection, insult in place of diplomacy. Macron’s mild plea - for water, medicine, and a shred of human dignity - was answered with Netanyahu’s trademark blend of indignation and historical revisionism. He invoked Holocaust survivors, war victories, and the old French collaborationist regime - a convenient deflection from the fact that his policies have brought Israel to the brink of global pariah status. Even the recognition of Palestinian statehood - supported by 147 countries and proposed again by France - is seen by Netanyahu not as a diplomatic necessity but as a “prize for terror.” He conveniently ignores that it is not Hamas but the secular Palestinian Authority that would benefit from such a move.
But then, Netanyahu has never cared for nuance. His ideological roots lie in the Likud vision of a “Greater Israel” stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea - a vision that has always regarded the very idea of a Palestinian state as an existential threat. As the walls close in, Netanyahu has found support only from the fringes - his own son Yair among them, spewing venom online in the name of nationalism. Even Bibi was forced to distance himself from Yair’s tone, if not his message.
Netanyahu’s tragedy is entirely self-authored. His dream of a New Middle East has turned into a nightmare for Palestinians and an embarrassment for Israel. He has alienated allies, destabilized the region, and left his own citizens more vulnerable than ever. The only thing more outdated than his cartographic fantasies is the man himself.
Dr Imran Khalid
The writer is a freelance contributor with a focus on international affairs.
