Words that Netanyahu Especially Loves
The total victory, with God's help, kibbutzim and Iran. But what happened to #ISIS?
Five days after the October 7 massacre, Netanyahu coined a two-word term that would accompany the State of Israel throughout the war. It quickly became a preferred catchphrase (and commercial campaign) among his supporters, and conversely a symbol of detachment and militarism among his opponents. "This is truly a war for our home, and it must end in one thing, total victory," Netanyahu said in a speech to the Knesset on October 12. The phrase "total victory" appeared no less than 129 times in his statements since ("total victory", "the total victory" and "to total victory"), and it seems it will accompany him forever like his other catchphrases "They are a-f-r-a-i-d", "Life itself" and "Sourpusses" ("הם מ-פ-ח-דים", "החיים עצמם" ו"חמוצים".)
How do you measure "total victory"? Does it mean completing all the war's objectives? Or is it a vague alibi that will allow avoiding a deal and continuing the war until Netanyahu chooses to stop? A definitive answer is not available, but the term has become established, and as mentioned - it will accompany Netanyahu for years. This is the place to examine a few more words and phrases that the Prime Minister has frequently - or rarely - used since October 7:
Hostages - This word (or his preferred inflection "our hostages") was, as expected, one of the most popular in the Prime Minister's texts and appeared 437 times.
ISIS - The #hamasisisis hashtag that was common on the web after the massacre did not escape Netanyahu's notice, and he mentioned the comparison of Hamas to the Islamic State organization no less than 26 times in his statements in the first month and a half of the war (in some he repeated it several times). However, since then, except for a brief and casual mention on December 24 (which actually referred to a letter his wife Sara sent to the Pope), he has not repeated it at all. Perhaps because he didn't want to be remembered as someone who transferred money and negotiated with the equivalent of ISIS.
Kibbutz - The prevailing sentiment among Netanyahu's opponents states that he had difficulty uttering the word "kibbutz" or "kibbutzim" in the context of the October 7 massacre, apparently because it's not his political base. And indeed, he didn't use this word very much (36 times, in addition to a few times when he mentioned names such as Be'eri, Nir Oz, Kfar Aza, etc.). In his defense, it should be said that he also rarely mentioned other settlements, clear #Likud supporters, that were central victims in the massacre (Sderot 7 times and Ofakim 4 times).
A hair's breadth (כפסע) - A word that became fixed in public consciousness even though Netanyahu used it only twice. The first, tragically, was in a statement on December 16, the day after the killing of hostages Alon Shamriz, Samer Talalka and Yotam Haim by IDF soldiers in Sajjaiya ("They were a hair's breadth from freedom, they almost touched redemption").
The second time ("We are a hair's breadth from victory") came at a government meeting on April 7, in a statement that became a symbol of his attempt to convince the public that #Hamas was close to surrender. Five months later, when the organization refused to surrender, Netanyahu claimed at a press conference for foreign media that he meant "we are a hair's breadth from the critical thing for victory, I said there would be no victory if we don't enter Rafah".
Iran / Axis of Evil - The head of the octopus, the operator of the proxy forces surrounding Israel, Netanyahu's nemesis for decades, he mentioned 109 times since October 7. The phrase "axis of evil" he mentioned 35 times.
#Qatar - The name of the small emirate in the eastern Arabian Peninsula - which on one hand has been hosting Hamas leaders for years and controls the Al Jazeera network, and on the other hand serves as a mediator between Israel and other organizations - Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned only 6 times since the beginning of the war. Another mediator, Egypt, was also not prominent in his statements - 8 times.
With God's help - There are acquaintances of the Prime Minister who are willing to swear that he is a complete atheist. But as they say - even if it doesn't help, it won't hurt. Netanyahu used this phrase 60 times.
#Rafah - It seems that this city has been accompanying us since October 7. But in fact, Netanyahu first mentioned the name "Rafah" only at a government meeting on February 4. To be precise, in a speech to the Knesset on December 25, he shared a story about his meeting with the President of the Red Cross, in which he allegedly gave her a box of medicines and said to her: "Take this box, pass it on. At the Rafah crossing give it to a Hamas man". But in the context of the war, the city was first mentioned only four months after the Hamas attack. In total, the name was mentioned 93 times (some in the context of the Rafah crossing). He first mentioned the Philadelphi Corridor on his own initiative in a speech to graduates of an officers' course on July 11, and since then has repeated it 30 more times.
Already in Europe - Throughout Netanyahu's statements are woven names, phrases and references related to World War II. For example, he said the word "#Holocaust" 53 times (some in speeches and tweets around Holocaust Remembrance Day), antisemitism 15, Nazi/Nazis 20, Nazism 2, Hitler 6, World War II 7, Churchill 4 and Auschwitz 2.
Catchphrases - Besides "total victory" Netanyahu tried to introduce a few more sentences or word combinations into the discourse, more or less catchy. The sentence "Whoever hurts/will hurt us - we hurt them" (or "his blood is on his head"), as a message to Hezbollah, he said 12 times. He used the phrase "neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan" 6 times. Around Purim he tried twice "We eliminated Haman - we'll eliminate Sinwar too", but didn't continue with it. When noting the war's objectives (see separate item) and referring to the hostages, he often emphasized "the living and the fallen alike" (21 times). He mentioned the sentence "The axis of evil needs the Philadelphi axis" three times.
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