Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used Sunday’s cabinet meeting to launch a sharp political attack on Blue and White chief Benny Gantz and Yashar! leader Gadi Eisenkot.
“When I speak with the Americans about Israeli politics, I tell them that there is no longer left and right here,” the prime minister said. “Everyone is pretending to be right-wing, but in essence they are people of the left.”
Referring to Gantz and Eisenkot’s conduct in the war cabinet, Netanyahu claimed the two had supported accepting Hamas’s terms.
“They said Hamas’s dictate had to be accepted, to leave the Strip, receive the hostages, and return to deal with Gaza after two or three years. Those who say today, ‘why did you not achieve 100%,’ were prepared to accept zero.”
Netanyahu added that if he had accepted their position and halted the war, “the Iranian axis would have remained at the height of its power, together with Deif, Sinwar, Haniyeh, Nasrallah, Assad, and Khamenei.”
“Standing up to the pressure well”
According to Netanyahu, officials in the cabinet told him in closed-door discussions: “We will frame it as an image of victory on the channels.” Netanyahu said he rejected the idea outright: “I said that if there is a victory, there will be a picture, not before.”
He later criticized the maritime border agreement with Lebanon, which was signed under the government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.
“They preach to us? They gave sovereign maritime territory to Lebanon, we are entering the territory. There is peace from our strength, and there is surrender from their weakness. Hezbollah blessed their agreement and is cursing our agreement. That is the difference.”
Netanyahu also addressed foreign policy issues during the cabinet meeting.
Referring to Lebanon, he said: “President Trump did not ask me not to act against the terror tunnels in Lebanon, and I did not ask him. We are acting according to our own considerations.”
On Gaza, he clarified: “There will be no reconstruction without dismantling and demilitarization in the designated area.”
The prime minister also addressed the US and Iran, saying: “Herzl called it “magic tricks.” We take into account the interests of our friends and also of our enemies, and advance our own interests. When there are disagreements, they are laid out openly and honestly, as is appropriate between friends. Iran wants to remove us from southern Lebanon, and they are trying to apply pressure on the US.
We are standing up to this pressure well. We received the legitimacy to hold the yellow line from our huge achievement vis-à-vis Lebanon, but they will try to undermine it in every way, including by applying pressure on the Lebanese government.”
Blue and White responded to Netanyahu’s remarks, saying: “If Netanyahu had listened to Gantz, we would have finished in Rafah by the end of Ramadan, returned the hostages, and moved north to eliminate Nasrallah in order to prevent another lost year in the north. Netanyahu hesitated, we lost precious time, legitimacy, and unfortunately also hostages who were murdered during that time.”
Source:
www.jpost.com
