Still trying to shore up a few more votes ahead of Tuesday’s election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is again trying to appeal to his hawkish base by confirming that he will probably launch a full-scale war in the Gaza Strip some time soon.



While continuing to insist that Israel considers war “the last option,” Netanyahu argued that he “will probably have no choice but to set out on a full-scale military campaign” against Gaza.



Netanyahu has been centering his recent campaign on all his attacks against Iran-linked targets, mostly in Iraq. He’s also promised that if reelected he’s going to annex substantial portions of the occupied West Bank.



These are issues that play well to the Israeli right, and Netanyahu clearly hopes he can energize his base for the election with such promises. While that may have worked in the case of an actual war, however, his hawkish promises don’t seem to be substantially moving the polls.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz