Netanyahu: "Any escalation by our enemies will be met with an overwhelming response"
In the past three days, the Prime Minister's Office has circulated a total of almost 20 photos of the prime minister in various security poses. From the moment Operation Shield and Arrow was launched, every few hours a new pose was added to Netanyahu's security gallery: at a meeting at Shin Bet headquarters last Friday in which the plan of the operation was approved, in frequent security consultations in his office in the Kirya, in prime time statements with the defense minister, the chief of staff and the head of the Shin Bet, and in periodic updates at the table from the military secretary, and of course also the traditional visit to the soldiers at David's Sling battery, They successfully intercepted one of the volleys to Gush Dan.
After more than four months of chaos and chaos under the auspices of the legal revolution, the operation in Gaza provided Netanyahu with rare moments of grace and disengagement from the ills of his sixth government. His social networks, in response, were flooded with security 'shopony' photos, so that no one, God forbid, would miss that he had returned to his element.
"Mr. Security". Netanyahu assessing the situation (Photo: Government Press Office, Kobi Gideon)
The operation to eliminate the top Islamic Jihad leaders in Gaza was given the name "Shield and Arrow," which also symbolizes Netanyahu's political value: it provided him with a shield against his and his government's collapse in the polls and fired an arrow into the coalition balloon inflated by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the boycott he announced in protest of the response policy in Gaza. Netanyahu ignored the noise and let Ben-Gvir play with himself for an entire week by boycotting the plenum and the government, and in the meantime, completely excluded him from the preliminary discussions of the operation, as well as from the limited forums during it.
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Returned to his element. Netanyahu assessing the situation (Photo: Government Press Office, Kobi Gideon)
Despite the explosive title, the minister of national security learned about the assassination of senior jihadists as one person, from an IDF Spokesperson's announcement in the middle of the night between Monday and Tuesday. "It's about time!" tweeted Ben-Gvir a few minutes later, in a first, not last, attempt to take credit for renewing targeted killings and pushing the government to take a tough crackdown on terrorism. This is his way of surrendering off the ladder he climbed and declaring the end of the coalition crisis. Until next time.
In the meantime, Otzma Yehudit chairman's boycott games have only served Netanyahu and the ongoing effort he has launched since freezing the legal reform in an attempt to rehabilitate his status and image as the responsible adult, which has reached its peak in recent days. They distinguish him as someone who steers the ship responsibly and calmly and manages important matters alone, and does not succumb to extreme or childish dictates.
Compartmentalized. Ben Gvir (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Ben-Gvir, like the vast majority of government ministers, did not appear in any of the photos in Netanyahu's security album; In the frames alongside him, only a few starred – Defense Minister Yoav Galant, Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, National Security Chief Tzachi Hanegbi and other senior officials in his office. A month and a half after firing the defense minister over his warnings of a legal revolution, the prime minister clung to Galant, as evidenced by the deliberately circulated photograph of a smiling and cordial handshake between the two at the end of one of the national declarations shared by the nation.
The belated renaissance with Gallant does not indicate a renewed brotherhood or an end to the crisis in relations, but rather an instrumental ceasefire of no choice; in the cliff of times; While Netanyahu suffered a severe blow from the hasty dismissal that dropped him to a record low in the polls, the defense minister's popularity is soaring. Now, he's simply using it to regain the lost support.
A ceasefire of no choice. Netanyahu and Galant (Photo: Government Press Office, Haim Tzach)
The photos in the album were intended to herald the return of "Mr. Security" after months of sinking into the mud of the "right-wing" government. They are not aimed at the eyes of his opponents, who are already skeptical about his intentions and mixing politics with security, but at the hearts of his supporters, and at the 10-8 seats that have abandoned him since the elections, and even more so after Gallant's dismissal.
A Maariv poll from this morning confirms that the goal has been achieved, and that the Likud is recovering and closing the gap from the state camp - with 27 seats for both parties. The sharp and precise opening blow of the operation and the filmed state declarations did their job; They removed reform, recruitment and coalition funds from the agenda, brought Netanyahu back to center stage, and halted the bleeding in the polls.
But the political success of the operation still depends on the ceasefire – when it will be achieved and how long it will last. The longer the incident, the greater the risk of hits and mishaps that could cause the achievement to be reversed, and as rocket fire from Gaza continues, in the current round or in renewed drips after a ceasefire, Netanyahu's security campaign may erode.
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- Benjamin Netanyahu
- Operation Shield and Arrow
- Itamar Ben-Gvir
- Yoav Galant