As early as 1996, when it appeared following the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin that Shimon Peres, who pledged to continue the peace process he and Rabin began, was on the verge of winning the election as prime minister, Hamas suicide bombers blew up two buses on Jaffa Road in downtown Jerusalem, killing 45 people. (The attacks were masterminded by Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif in Gaza, who Israel has been trying unsuccessfully to assassinate for decades.)
The bombings turned enough voters away from the peace process which Netanyahu opposed and undermined in his campaign, resulting in a surprise narrow victory for Netanyahu by slightly less than 30,000 votes. This put into power a prime minister who allowed Hamas to grow and prosper thereby weakening the Palestinian Authority, a tactic meant to scotch all possibilities of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Since that election, both Hamas and Netanyahu have maintained a constant level of hostility that puts off any possibility of peace and has kept them both in power.
Never have these shared interests been more obvious than during the current war. Hamas has not only outperformed all of Israel’s enemies with the devastating attacks of October 7, but it also manages to elude defeat and score support worldwide as it absorbs punishing retaliation from Israel. Hamas cynically use the suffering of their fellow Palestinians for their own gain while shielding themselves from punishment.
Before the war, Netanyahu, busy with the agenda of his right-wing extremist government, legal troubles and national protests against his self-serving anti-democratic judicial “reform”‘ disregarded warnings that he was endangering Israel’s security.
The prime minister and his government’s inattentiveness and mistakes were colossal, but he works now to play them down as he stokes fury against the Palestinians and argues this is a war only he must lead.
Just before Hamas launched its October 7 assault, a poll found in early October that an absolute majority of the Gazan public (67 percent) expressed little confidence in Hamas, compared to 29 percent who expressed a high degree of trust. Moreover, 73 percent of Gazans supported a non-violent settlement of the conflict, compared to only 20 percent who favored violent action against Israel. But according to a more recent poll in November, Hamas popularity has soared since the war began.
Both Netanyahu and the Hamas leaders realize that in a time of true peace they would be replaced by leaders who offer hope and good government. They therefore have no incentive to end this war since its end would end of their hold on power.
Law, Power, and Justice 
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