Peace will never be acceptable to Netanyahu. Where will his never-ending battle take him next

Benjamin Netanyahu's philosophy of eternal warfare has one ruthlessly straightforward rule: peace cannot and should not endure.

Anguished cries are heard as Israel's aggressive prime minister orders indiscriminate, lethal fire to be unleashed once more on the defenseless people of Gaza. Has the priceless two-month-long pause with Hamas come to an end? The shocking response is that it hardly matters. This peace, which is already falling apart, was only a short-lived, false break in an unending struggle.

It continues because Netanyahu and his allies have fostered and maintained a perpetual state of national emergency since the terrorist strikes of October 7, 2023, which has kept him in power. Since Netanyahu's main goal of destroying Palestinian aspirations for national identity is bound to fail, the war continues. It continues because people who criticize the conduct of the Israeli government, both domestically and internationally, risk being shunned and mistreated for allegedly behaving with antisemitic intent rather than in good faith or out of concern for the human cost.