Rifts in the Israeli government emerged publicly on Friday as members of the cabinet argued over plans for the post-war future of Gaza and how to handle investigations into the security failings around Hamas\u2019 October 7 attacks. <\/p>\n
The public sniping followed what one source described as a \u201cfight\u201d at a meeting of the the security cabinet on Thursday. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said there had been a \u201cstormy discussion,\u201d while former Defense Minister Benny Gantz said a \u201cpolitically motivated attack\u201d had been launched. <\/p>\n
The developments illustrate the fault lines emerging in the governing coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after three months of war with Hamas. If the government collapses, Israel would likely face new elections that Netanyahu is widely expected to lose. <\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s security cabinet split was over how to handle investigations into the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, including the Israeli military\u2019s failure to foresee it, as well as how to prosecute the war from now on. <\/p>\n
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant outlined plans for the next phase of the war in Gaza, and provided details of what might follow that, in a three-page document entitled the \u201cDay After.\u201d <\/p>\n
He described a \u201cnew combat approach\u201d with a sustained focus on targeting Hamas leaders in southern parts of the strip. In northern Gaza, he said the Israel Defense Forces\u2019 (IDF) campaign would encompass \u201craids, the destruction of terror tunnels, aerial and ground activities, and special operations.\u201d <\/p>\n
After the war,\u00a0the Israeli military would maintain \u201coperational freedom of action in the Gaza Strip\u201d and Israel would continue to \u201ccarry out the inspection of goods entering\u201d the territory. <\/p>\n
Gallant, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s center-right Likud party, said that once the goals of the war have been achieved there would be \u201cno Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip,\u201d appearing to rule out the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza that Israel unilaterally removed in 2005. <\/p>\n
The defense minister also unveiled the concept of a US-led multinational task force charged with \u201cthe rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip.\u201d <\/p>\n
But the minister\u2019s plan provided scant detail on the future governance of the enclave, merely saying that the Palestinian \u201centity controlling the territory\u201d would \u201cbuild on the capabilities\u201d of \u201clocal non-hostile actors\u201d already present in Gaza. <\/p>\n
The plan prompted a fiery discussion, according to a source. After a break in the meeting, the source said, Transportation Minister Miri Regev went on the attack. \u201cAfter the break Miri Regev came back and launched this fight that was leaked,\u201d said the official, who asked not to be named discussing internal political discussions. <\/p>\n
Gantz, who joined the government from opposition after October 7, said: \u201cWhat happened yesterday was a politically motivated attack in the middle of a war. I participated in many cabinet meetings \u2013 such conduct has never occurred and must not occur.\u201d <\/p>\n
He did not say who had launched the attack, but he criticized Netanyahu. \u201cThe cabinet should have discussed strategic processes that will affect the continuation of the campaign and our security in the future. It did not happen, and the prime minister is responsible for that,\u201d Gantz said, urging Netanyahu to choose between unity and security on the one hand and politics on the other. <\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party then lashed out at Gantz. \u201cDuring a war, when the people are united, Gantz is expected to act responsibly and stop looking for excuses to break his promise to remain in the unity government until the end of the war,\u201d it said in a statement. <\/p>\n
Gantz is widely considered a likely successor to Netanyahu when an election is called. <\/p>\n
Gallant\u2019s plan was criticized Friday by Smotrich, who along with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has advocated for resettling Gazans outside the enclave. Their comments have drawn condemnation from the United States, United Nations officials and several Arab states. <\/p>\n
Smotrich wrote on Facebook that \u201c\u2018The Day After\u2019 is a rerun of \u2018The Day Before\u2019 on October 7,\u201d referring to the date of the Hamas terror attack in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe solution in Gaza requires thinking outside the box and changing the concept by encouraging voluntary migration and full security control including the renewal of settlement,\u201d Smotrich added. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s deadly bombardment and besiegement of Gaza has turned swathes of the Palestinian enclave into a wasteland, leaving more than 2.2 million people at risk of severe dehydration, starvation and disease. At least 1.93 million Palestinians have been displaced, according\u00a0to the United\u00a0Nations. <\/p>\n
Regional actors in the Middle East have repeatedly likened\u00a0the\u00a0mass movement\u00a0of Palestinians in Gaza to the\u00a0\u201cNakba,\u201d\u00a0or catastrophe, the Arabic term for the expulsion or flight of Palestinians from their towns during the founding of Israel in 1948. <\/p>\n
Since\u00a0October 7, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 22,600 people, 70% of whom are women and children, the Haman-run health ministry said on Friday. <\/p>\n
Smotrich\u00a0previously\u00a0said\u00a0the removal of Gazans from the strip could pave the way for Israelis to \u201cmake the desert bloom\u201d while\u00a0Ben Gvir had suggested that the current\u00a0war\u00a0represented an \u201copportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza.\u201d <\/p>\n
Smotrich, a Jewish nationalist,\u00a0has\u00a0denied\u00a0the existence of a Palestinian people or nationhood. Ben Gvir was previously convicted of inciting racism against Arabs and supporting a terrorist organization. <\/p>\n
Earlier this week, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller roundly condemned the \u201cinflammatory and irresponsible\u201d comments made by Smotrich and Ben Gvir,\u00a0saying the US had been \u201ctold repeatedly and consistently\u201d by Israel \u201cthat such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. <\/p>\n
Responding to the US statement, Ben Gvir on Tuesday called the US a \u201cgood friend\u201d but said the \u201cemigration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza\u201d would allow Israeli settlers to return and \u201clive in security.\u201d <\/p>\n
Smotrich also responded to the US State Department\u2019s rebuke, posting on X: \u201cMore than 70% of the Israeli public today supports a humanitarian solution of encouraging the voluntary immigration of Gaza Arabs and their absorption in other countries.\u201d <\/p>\n
Other foreign officials, from Europe to Saudi Arabia, have fiercely condemned the rhetoric pushed by Israeli far-right cabinet ministers, while a UN official warned the forced displacement of Palestinians outside Gaza \u201cis an act of genocide.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cForcible transfer of Gazan population is an act of genocide especially given the high number of children,\u201d Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN\u2019s special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing,\u00a0posted on X\u00a0on Friday. <\/p>\n
On Thursday, the UN\u2019s human rights chief Volker Turk\u00a0said\u00a0he was \u201cvery disturbed by high-level Israeli officials\u2019 statements on plans to transfer civilians from Gaza to third countries.\u201d <\/p>\n
The EU\u2019s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said\u00a0on Wednesday, \u201cForced displacements are strictly prohibited as a grave violation of IHL (International Humanitarian Law) & words matter.\u201d <\/p>\n
US officials have previously said they ultimately envision both Gaza and the\u00a0occupied\u00a0West Bank being ruled by a unified government led by a \u201crevitalized\u201d Palestinian Authority. At present, the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, having lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in 2007. <\/p>\n
An Arab delegation comprising officials from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority emphasized in a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in December that Arab states will need assurances that there is a path toward a Palestinian state if they are going are to play a role in the reconstruction of Gaza. <\/p>\n\n
Rifts in the Israeli government emerged publicly on Friday as members of the cabinet argued over plans for the post-war future of Gaza and how to handle investigations into the security failings around Hamas\u2019 October 7 attacks. The public sniping followed what one source described as a \u201cfight\u201d at a meeting of the the security <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}