The tension subsided on Monday (September 2nd) between Hezbollah and Israel after Sunday's violent confrontation on the Israeli-Lebanese border, a week after a strike claimed by the Israeli government in Syria, which killed two members of Hassan's party Nasrallah. Hezbollah also blamed the Jewish state for a drone attack on its south Beirut stronghold on 25 August and another strike the next day in eastern Lebanon.
The specter of a new war, after that of 2006, between the pro-Iranian Shiite movement and the Israeli army, which on Sunday countered several Hezbollah anti-tank missile attacks on northern Israel, temporarily moved away .
Still, more and more voices are rising in Israel to blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also holds the defense portfolio, for exploiting the ongoing tensions in the Middle East with Iran and its neighbors. regional allies for electoral purposes.
In the middle of the campaign for the legislative elections of September 17, the Prime Minister hopes to be reinstated, while he must be heard in October by the Attorney General who will decide his charge for corruption, fraud and breach of trust in three cases. But one of the main thrusts of his campaign is to present him as the strong man who guarantees security inside the country and at the borders, a theme dear to the electorate on the right, which he is courting ardently.
"That's what happens when the Prime Minister plays politics at the expense of security"
"Many critics say that this whole security campaign is playing on behalf of the prime minister, and allows him to avoid the spotlight on corruption cases hovering over him," reports Sami Sockol, France 24's correspondent. in Jerusalem.
According to the daily Haaretz, there is a consensus within circles of the Israeli security establishment: Benjamin Netanyahu does well to take seriously the Iranian threat, and the appropriate measures. A threat they consider real as Tehran advances its pawns in the Middle East. However, these circles are less certain that it should be publicized, as did the Prime Minister around the strike in Syria on the night of 24 to 25 August. It is this unusual transparency and profusion of details about the operation that has raised suspicions about political and electoral considerations on the part of the Prime Minister.
On Sunday, a heavyweight in the Israeli political scene, former finance minister Yair Lapid, directly accused Benjamin Netanyahu of having fled, for electoral purposes, from the policy of ambiguity of the Jewish state which, traditionally , only very rarely reports on military operations in neighboring countries.
"The children of the North [of Israel] find themselves in shelters because of one reason only: because Bibi [Netanyahu] has violated the policy of ambiguity, which was successful, because of the elections, has wrote on his Twitter account the MP, also number 2 of Benny Gantz's opposition party, is what happens when the Prime Minister plays politics at the expense of security. "
Questioned by France 24, Kidrar Mordechai, specialist of Islamic culture at Bar-Ilan University and former member of the intelligence services of the Israeli army, does not share this view. "If a war breaks out, the elections will be postponed, and many Israelis will blame Benjamin Netanyahu for being in charge," he says, "so I do not think there is any connection between these security developments with Hezbollah. and any political calculations, because the current situation, even if the confrontation with Iran and his followers is not new, is above all political considerations ".
"Benjamin Netanyahu sends messages to the public, tending to show that the situation is under control, knowing that his main opponents in the elections of September 17 are part of a list of candidates composed of several former chiefs of staff led by former general Benny Gantz, explains our correspondent Sami Sockol, so for this election, he must portray himself as a leader who can cope with this security situation, and so far the events are playing in his favor ".
New war or limited retaliation?
Experts say that, despite the outbreak of fever, neither side wants to engage in a large-scale conflict, contenting itself with limited and well-calculated reprisals. There was no major conflict between Israel and Hezbollah under the various mandates of Benjamin Netanyahu, who, over the 71-year-old existence of the Jewish state, held power just over 13 years (from 1996 to 1999), and without discontinue since 2009).
"If Hezbollah stays there, Benjamin Netanyahu will be able to score extra points for the election," Sami Sockol said. A confrontation, two winners? While the Prime Minister has welcomed Israel "not even a scratch" after the attack by the movement of Hassan Nasrallah, the latter can also be satisfied, with his base, for keeping his promise to retaliate on Israeli territory.
According to the correspondent of France 24, the Israeli Prime Minister can boast of having responded harshly to the attack on Hezbollah, since he announced in the media that the army fought back with 100 shells and aerial fire on the South Lebanon, another stronghold of the Lebanese Shiite party.
What to restore the image of Benjamin Netanyahu guarantor of security, undermined since the recovery in mid-August, attempts to infiltrate Israel and rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, another front. Which earned him attacks from rivals like Benny Gantz. "A prime minister who is under investigation is not able to deal with Hamas," he recently tweeted.