Israeli voices, including Netanyahu’s allies, are calling for his resignation and army commanders
Calls for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, army and intelligence leaders are growing in Israel as the ground invasion of the Gaza Strip is postponed amid official declarations that the war will last months and the families of Israeli prisoners demonstrate, warning against forgetting their cause.
Leaders of the protest against the government’s judicial plan express their concern that one of the reasons for prolonging the war is to hold the leadership accountable for failing to use the time for personal or partisan purposes and interests.
It was noted that calls for resignation also began to grow among the ranks of the right, among Netanyahu’s allies, especially among the settlement forces and the far right.
The news website for Haredi Jews around the world, “Bahdrei Hadrim,” published an editorial saying that high-level experts on the right and left in Israel believe that Netanyahu is retreating from his strict political rhetoric, wagging their tails and looking for arguments to justify not carrying out a land invasion. The site adds in an editorial that the goal set by the government and army leaders to annihilate Hamas cannot be achieved from the air. This position is not an emotional one stemming from a desire for revenge, “but rather it is a strategic interest in restoring the Israeli deterrent power that has been destroyed by some Hamas criminal thugs.” Even though it was carried out at the expense of thousands of poor Palestinian victims, it is directed against the powerful and great enemy (Hamas), and behind Hezbollah and Iran.”
On the website of extremist settlers in the West Bank, “Channel 7,” the writer After Shaki published an article calling for Netanyahu to resign or be fired. He said that he loves this man and appreciates his great abilities, “but his history has been full of serving the ideas of the left and disavowing the ideas of the public that loves him and elects him.” This was the case when he signed the Hebron and Wye River Accords and when he gave the Bar-Ilan speech on the two-state solution. But today he is wasting a historic opportunity to liquidate Hamas and evade it. “This deals a serious strategic blow to Israel.”
Lawyer Nadav Hatzni, one of the settler leaders in the Hebron area, who writes a weekly article in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, also attacked Netanyahu at the “extermination point”. He is an old friend of his and knows that he is obsessed with the idea of comparing himself to the historic British leader Winston Churchill and has written an article in which he attacks Netanyahu’s “vile” policies.
He said that this is the time for Israel to demonstrate its seriousness in the fight against Hamas, even if a large number of casualties occur in Israel, since the war cannot be without costs.
He added: “Netanyahu bears no resemblance to Churchill. In fact, he resembles the British prime minister who preceded Churchill, Arthur Noel Chamberlain.” This chamberlain has become in history an example of an acquiescent, hesitant and cowardly politician, who submitted to Hitler in 1938 and signed the Munich Agreement with him, granting Germany a region of Czechoslovakia.
The protest leaders return
On the other hand, the call for resignation is also being raised by protest leaders, who have organized large demonstrations against the government due to its plan to overthrow the ruling system and weaken the judicial system. Among the most prominent is the writer Uri Misgav, who published (Thursday) an article in the newspaper Maariv, in which he mocks Likud leaders who say: “He who has failed is the one who must reform. We are forbidden to change the leader.”
He said: “It’s almost like saying after the Titanic disaster that if the captain had survived, we should have given him another ship.” He added: “The State of Israel cannot afford to continue with this failed and irresponsible leadership, a leadership that is negligent and allows for months and years to launch missiles at our cities, our citizens and our children. Many citizens from all segments of the population want another leadership, a leadership that does not change its approach based on the needs of remaining in power. Netanyahu has no interest in the victims and their families. The Israelis and their army will not be able to defeat jihadist terrorism as long as this person is the prime minister. He has to go now.”
The families of Israeli prisoners demonstrated in Tel Aviv, during which they expressed their concern that their cause is being forgotten in this war and asked them to leave everything and start negotiations for the release of their sons and daughters.
Faced with this wave, retired General Yitzhak Brik made an explicit appeal demanding the resignation of the first military leadership, meaning both the Army Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevy, and the heads of the Army’s Southern Brigade and the intelligence. .
This appeal is an attempt by Netanyahu, who has met Brik three times since the outbreak of the war, to find a balance between his responsibility for the failure and the responsibility of the army and intelligence. Although Netanyahu emphasizes in his popular appearance that he is working collectively in leading the war, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the minister from the opposition, Benny Gantz, and is working in full coordination with the Chief of Staff, his men they are attacking these partners relentlessly.
Netanyahu had given a speech (Wednesday evening) to send a message to those who accuse him of cowardice, saying: “The return of Israeli prisoners and hostages to the Gaza Strip constitutes one of the first objectives of the war.” He confirmed that the army intends to invade Gaza by land, at a time, size and extent determined by the “war cabinet”, in accordance with the supreme interest.
He reiterated “the goal set by his government for the war, which is to eliminate the Hamas movement and kill all its members,” threatening all members of the “clandestine and superior” movement with being “sentenced to death.”
He said the timing and size of the ground attack on the Gaza Strip would be determined with Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevy, and added: “I will not determine when, how and how much. I will not detail all the considerations, most of which the public does not know.” Then he addressed the people of Gaza, advising them to leave the south.