The Sociopath as Statesman: Netanyahu’s Descent into Genocide Politics, Part III

“He’s choosing people [to join his wartime administration] based on their opinions of him and not on how fit they are for the job.” - Saul Kimhi

“What we see in Netanyahu is someone whose brain was profoundly changed by exposure to power. As with Vladimir Putin, it is his psychology, a mix of self-belief and paranoia, that is driving his decision-making; and as with Putin, he has lost the ability to distinguish his own interests from the interests of the country.” - Ian Robertson

“Some of his conclusions: Netanyahu was narcissistic, entitled and paranoid, and he reacted poorly under stress.” - Saul Kimhi

“When starvation and deprivation of the fundamental necessities for human life are employed as a method of war for more than a year, what other word than genocide can be used to describe that reality?” - Dr. Ofer Cassif

“All of the places in which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble. I say to the residents [Christian and Muslim Palestinians] of Gaza: Leave now!" - Benjamin Netanyahu

The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 hostages, shattered Netanyahu's aura of security mastery, triggering a profound narcissistic collapse. Psychologist and political analysts and sociologists, revisiting Benjamin Netanyahu's profile, described his initial shock as "paralysis under stress," followed by overcompensation on a total destruction on Gaza that displaced 100% of its population and killed over 70,000 by mid-2025. His rhetoric escalated to genocidal tones, "We will turn Gaza into rubble", revealing sociopathic detachment, no empathy for civilian tolls, only "annihilation and genocidal" framing.

Netanyahu's accusations of "blood libels" against the UN and Biden, which repeated his father's antisemitic obsessions, reached a peak of paranoia. This is related to "entitlement under duress," where threats intensify conspiracy theories that label Hamas Nazis, according to Al Jazeera's 2023 analysis, which cites researcher Kimhi. Citing delusional leadership, Israeli MK Ofer Cassif publicly referred to him as "mentally ill" in February 2024.

According to psychoanalysis, Netanyahu's war planning is "psychopathic manipulation," and he dehumanizes Christian and Muslim Palestinians by calling them "animals and Amalekites" and fabricating "humanitarian pauses" without feeling guilty and zero empathy for other human beings. Numerous American psychologists characterize Netanyahu behaviour as "schizophrenic" in his suffering, with "collective psychosis" affecting Israeli society through collective narcissism, blind to errors and perceiving "Israel vs. the world."