In a Ynetnews article about Netanyahu and Gaza, 21 September 2026, there is a noteworthy quote from a longtime right-wing associate of his that literally goes "Something is not right with Netanyahu" (ref. 1). What is more, "the Netanyahu of three years ago would never have said Sparta and autarkic economy, not even about the defence industry" (ref. 1).
What is this about? Around mid September, Netanyahu picked a fight with China, of all countries. Netanyahu has been undiplomatic and in a combative mode ever since he called Australia's Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese a "weak politician" and accused him of "betraying" Israel. At the time, I did notice that it was a very weird thing for an Israeli PM to say. But what he has since said about China is weirder still. He said, China and Qatar are leading a campaign in Western media through AI technology to "besiege" Israel by eroding the support of its allies (ref. 2). For some reason, he stressed, not so much isolate but besiege. The idea of besiege is meaningful in Bible prophecy. However, at the time of the end, Israel will be besieged by Islamists, not by anyone else, certainly not by China.
It seems, Netanyahu is trying to suggest that France, the UK, Canada, and Australia etc have all turned against Israel on the matter of a Palestinian state because of some sort of propaganda from China. This does not make sense at all.
Even the bombing of Qatar, to get rid of the leaders of Hamas that were supposed to be there, has angered Donald Trump, Netanyahu's only backer right now. Qatar hosts a US military base. Behind closed doors, Trump is said to be fuming.
Netanyahu was probably trying to compensate, politically speaking, for the fact that he once let Qatar give Hamas a lot of money, something that Avigdor Liberman recently reminded everyone about.
On the same day that he picked that strange fight with China, Netanyahu also said that the economy of Israel must become like a "super Sparta", with "autarkic features" (ref. 3).
Thinking that Netanyahu had made a decision to put Israel on the path of economic isolation, the markets in Israel panicked. And so, Netanyahu was compelled to retract his statement, and then he insisted that he only meant Israel must become self-reliant in regard to the production of arms. Becoming more self reliant on arms in these last days is actually a good thing for Israel.
... keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.
Nahum 2:1
But the Sparta remark is a the-penny-has-dropped moment. His close associate has now described him as being "not right". Also, when he picked a fight with Australia and Albanese, it did occur to me that there might have been an evil spirit around him, messing with his mind. So, this Sparta thing is basically that demon mocking the situation, and even gloating about it. Because in the 2006 movie 300, there is a scene with Leonidas of Sparta and an envoy. The envoy says to the Spartan leader: This is madness! To which, Leonidas responds: Madness? This is Sparta!
In Isaiah 29:4, something that I only noticed recently, it is prophesied that at some point in these last days, Israel will speak as if it has a "familiar spirit" and it will speak "out of the ground" like a serpent. A familiar spirit is a demon - an angel on the side of Satan and in rebellion against God. With Netanyahu the way that he has become, you might say that this prophecy is playing out right now.
And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
Isaiah 29:3-4
Netanyahu's condition does explain why he has little interest in a deal to get back the hostages. With Netanyahu and others like him - presumably there are others in the government of Israel as well, ie. Isaiah 56's "dogs that cannot bark" - with this sort of thing, there is a very real betrayal going on, and this betrayal, one Jew betraying another Jew, is also prophesied in the Bible!
Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mark 13:12-13
Fortunately, a group of Knesset politicians have decided to form an unprecedented coalition of left, center, and right, in the hope of toppling Netanyahu at the next general election, scheduled for October 2026 (ref. 4). So far, Yair Lapid, Avigdor Liberman, Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Golan have come together, but it is also possible that Naftali Bennett and Benny Gantz could join them.
Something else that has since surfaced is that several close aides to Benjamin Netanyahu have been found to be on the payroll of Qatar. They moonlighted as lobbyists for Qatar. And all this happened during Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. Former PM Naftali Bennett has described this as the worst act of "treason" in Israel's history (ref. 5). The IDF was at war against Hamas, and Hamas's leaders were based in Qatar, and Qatar was once a conduit of money from Netanyahu to Hamas, and knowing all of this, these close aides of Netanyahu were working for the Israeli prime minister's office and for the government of Qatar, at the same time. This is "Qatargate". Either Netanyahu was inept or else he was in on it.
References:
1. Nadav Eyal (21 September 2025), "Netanyahu hopes for a Beirut moment in Gaza, but the IDF doesn’t believe", ynetnews.com
2. Nava Freiberg (15 September 2025), "PM says Qatar, China attempting to blockade Israel politically, but the US is with us", timesofisrael.com
3. Shahar Burla (18 September 2025), "Netanyahu’s Super-Sparta: a flawed analogy with dangerous implications", thejewishindependent.com.au
4. JPost (20 September 2025), "Lapid, Eisenkot, Liberman, Golan officially form political bloc to defeat Netanyahu", jpost.com
5. Sam Sokol (22 December 2025), "Bennett: Qatargate is most serious act of treason in Israeli history, PM must resign", timesofisrael.com