Former Israeli Defense Minister Accuses Netanyahu of Prolonging War, Refusing to Release Gaza Hostages

According to the former minister, in July the possibility of a ceasefire with the exchange of hostages for Hamas prisoners was opened. Despite his efforts to convince the Prime Minister that it was time to end the conflict and bring home those kidnapped on October 7, Netanyahu ultimately rejected the proposal from Egypt, Qatar and the United States that his own intermediaries had accepted.. “Only he can make this decision,” Gallant justified when asked by members of his family.

Why would the prime minister of a country refuse to negotiate the release of his own citizens? Gallant highlights the almost unhealthy determination to keep his promise of a “total defeat” of Hamas and the pressure from the far right. Remember that Netanyahu’s government depends on the support of ultra-Orthodox groups in Itamar Ben Gvir And Bezalel Smotrichwho not only are against any negotiations with terrorists, but have repeatedly expressed their wish that the IDF remain in Gaza and that Israel eventually annexes the territory.

Gallant also referenced Netanyahu’s decision to seize the Philadelphia corridor that separates Israel from Egypt, despite contrary advice from the United States and Arab countries. “There was no military or diplomatic reason for this action,” the former minister said. Last week, a Netanyahu aide was arrested for leaking falsified secret documents to the public to justify the border operation. The Prime Minister has completely dissociated himself from the matter, but justice will surely have its say.

Two months of indefinition

Meanwhile, uncertainty remains over the change of administration in the United States and its implications for the region. For thirteen months, the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and that of Defense, Lloyd Austinas well as the director of the CIA, William Brulefailed in their attempt to calm the parties and reach agreements. This was seen as a sign of weakness around the world, and Iran and Israel undoubtedly took advantage of the situation.

Sources close to the president-elect Donald Trump They ensured the Wall Street Journal that his approach would be completely different and that he would be much more energetic than his predecessor in the negotiations. The relationship between Trump and Netanyahu is great right now, but it hasn’t always been this way: When Trump lost the election in 2020, he demanded that his ally not recognize Biden as the new president. In doing so, he accused him of disloyalty and severely criticized him.

Something similar happened to Biden back then. He and “Bibi” had been close friends since the current president’s days as a senator from Delaware. As soon as the American president mentioned Netanyahu’s policy regarding his country’s Supreme Court, the Likud leader was offended and relations completely froze. The current distrust is absolutehas. Gallant was a reasonable conversationalist, and his firing came as a complete surprise to the White House. Even if in Tel Aviv they insist on the fact that there will be no more purges in the army or in the Ministry of Defense, in Washington they don’t really believe it.

At least the new Minister of Defense, Israel Katzis an old acquaintance. In recent years, he has served as foreign minister and has therefore become a regular interlocutor for Blinken and company. The problem during these two months of transfer of power is that we do not really know who will have to negotiate, whether with the outgoing administration or with the one which has not yet taken power. The Israeli right effusively celebrated Trump’s election victory, especially after Trump’s statements Kamala Harris demanding a solution to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. However, they should already know that Trump is unpredictable.

With everything against Iran

In principle, there is a very hostile position towards Iran, which obviously benefits Israel. The future Trump administration will not be as delicate or diplomatic with the regime in Tehran. Iran is a military enemy of the United States and a personal enemy of Trump himself, after the Ayatollah regime planned to assassinate him in response to the attack that cost the general’s life. Soulemini at Baghdad airport in January 2020.

In fact, as Israel prepared its second attack on Iran and the Biden administration asked it to restrain itself and not attack energy centers and laboratories, Trump took to the media to ask Netanyahu not to not pay attention to it and put an end to the Iranian attack. nuclear program. The Republican does not appear to share the Democratic administration’s fear that a truly damaging attack could serve as justification for the most conservative sectors of the Iranian government to build their own atomic bomb. Experts estimate that Iran has enough enriched uranium to use it for military purposes within weeks and to have its first weapon of this type in less than a year.

The other problem Israel and the United States may have with Iran is the increasingly close alliance between the two countries. Ali Khamenei and the president Pezeshkian with Poutine and Russia. Putin is now a pragmatic man and, if Trump helps him on the Ukraine file, he may have no problem betraying the ayatollahs and allowing an Israeli attack combined with an increase in US sanctions on the Iranian oil.

The idea, according to the Republican’s entourage, is stifle Iran economically and militarily so that it stops financing terrorist groups surrounding Israel. In this way, they believe, it will be easier to reach a peace agreement that benefits their ally: not through negotiation and diplomacy, as Biden wanted, but from a more similar position of strength to that which Netanyahu so defended and which caused, in part, by his first confrontation with Benny Gantz and now with Yoav Gallant.