Netanyahu slammed on social media for ditching peace talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that he had rejected a ceasefire offer from Hamas and that he instead wants to go ahead with the war on Gaza until "total victory" drew a sharp rebuke on social media.

It has been more than four month since Israel launched war on Gaza in which nearly 30,000 people, many of them women and children, have been killed.

Despite international pressure, including from key allies such as the United States, Netanyahu and his far-right coalition government has refused to back down.

Here’s how people from different walks of life reacted to Netanyahu’s decision to turn his back on a cease-fire proposal.

Netanyahu’s political game

In a video post, Referring to the Netanyahu’s “total victory” remark, activist Greg J Stoker took a jibe at Netanyahu’s “total victory” remark, saying Israelis “have already lost."

Stoker highlighted the factors undermining Israel's position, including strain on government’s finances, and mounting political pressure both domestically and from the US.

“Netanyahu is pretty much playing for time…Because the second a ceasefire happens, it's over they're done he's going to have to deal with his corruption charge,” he said.

Experts say prolonging the conflict works in Netanyahu’s favour as it helps him preserve his political career, which was facing an uncertain future before the war broke out on October 7.

An Arab Jew, Alon Mizrahi, said Netanyahu is pursuing the war for his own “legacy”.

“Netanyahu doesn't want a deal because when journalists and UN personnel regain access to the Gaza Strip, the scale of the horrors that will be revealed will place Israel and the IDF somewhere in the moral neighbourhood of the Khmer Rouge.”

He added, “Netanyahu doesn't want a deal because images of thousands of released Palestinian prisoners will be a devastating blow for Israel's security apparatus and right-wing self-esteem. It will send Israeli radical right into a frenzy.”

Total ethnic cleansing

Netanyahu’s decision is being seen as way to perpetuate ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians under the cover of an attempt to resuce Israeli hostages under custody of Hamas.

A Palestinian social media user said , “The Hamas proposal for a ceasefire included the phased release of hostages. If Netanyahu and Israel's political class cared about hostages like they claim, they'd accept it. But they care about ethnically cleansing Palestinians, so they've rejected it.”

Another social media account, Justice Democrats, said “total victory” is equivalent to the genocide of one nation and, moreover, creating an Israeli state from the other’s rubble.

“‘Absolute victory" for Netanyahu & the Israeli government only looks like the genocide of the Palestinian people and the creation of one state of Israel out of the rubble. There is no other reason to reject a ceasefire, there is no military solution to this conflict,” they wrote.

In a similar comment, an American Jewish writer, Elad Nahorai, called Netanyahu an “evil”.

“Netanyahu has made it abundantly clear that he and the government plan to sacrifice the hostages and countless Gazan civilians in order to achieve an impossible objective,” he said.

“He frames any form of ceasefire as a surrender, allowing him to extend the war indefinitely. He is evil.”

#CeasefireNow

Following Netanyahu’s “total victory” remark, social media users who are protesting the Israeli aggression on Palestinians began sharing CeasefireNow hashtag.

American Senator Elizabeth Warren also criticised Netanyahu and his government for failing to secure the release of hostages and killing almost 30,000 Palestinians. “No more blank checks for Netanyahu.”

A Labour Party lawmaker in the UK, Richard Burgon, called his government to “do the right thing” and “suspend arms exports to Israel” along with pushing for a ceasefire. .

Mark Kersten, an Assistant Professor who focuses on human rights law, also called states to call for and secure a ceasefire. “We cannot afford the additional atrocities that Netanyahu’s “total victory” means,” he wrote on X.