Senior government sources say that if the emergency government changes the goals of the war as decided at the cabinet meeting, and does not adhere to the goal of toppling Hamas, they will use their political power to force it to do so. According to them, in the event of a serious deviation from the target, there may be a situation of resignation from the government.
"Calls on opposition leaders to form a national emergency government without preconditions"
The remarks are made ahead of the expected establishment of the emergency government, which in the first stage will include representatives of the state camp, former IDF chiefs of staff Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, who are supposed to become members of the small cabinet that is waging the war. It is estimated that adding the two to the government will happen in the next 24 hours.
A series of decisions
According to the Prime Minister's Office, on Saturday night the cabinet "made a series of operational decisions aimed at destroying the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and the PIJ in a way that will negate their ability and desire to threaten and harm Israeli citizens for many years."
This wording does not mean that it has been decided to topple Hamas or strip it of its entire military and governmental capability. This ambiguity is intended to bridge two different approaches in government.
Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, Photo: Yehuda Peretz
Many of the ministers believe that the Gaza Strip should be taken over, the Hamas regime should be toppled, or at least brought to the brink of collapse. This approach is advocated, among others, by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer.
On the other hand, Ministers Yoav Galant, Israel Katz, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir and others are interested in inflicting a crushing blow on Hamas that would also deprive it of any military capability that could completely topple its rule.
Fear of reproducing results
Former IDF chiefs of staff Gantz and Eisenkot sounded in closed conversations after the outbreak of the war more aggressive about how Israel should act. However, in the past they themselves advocated containment of Hamas, which allowed the organization to quickly rearm itself after each round of fighting with Israel.
Defense Minister Galant: "The rules of war have changed, we will strike Gaza as we have never seen before" // Photo: Ariel Hermony/Ministry of Defense
Like many in the defense establishment and the political echelon, the two believed that Hamas was deterred from Israel and therefore would not go to war against it. It should be noted that the prime minister also thought Hamas was deterred, and only a few weeks ago said so publicly.
Senior government officials who spoke to Israel Hayom expressed concern that the eclipse and that the entry of the two into the small cabinet with Netanyahu would replicate the results of all the previous rounds against Hamas, so that in the end he suffered a severe blow, but his rule was not overthrown and he rearmed himself within a short time.
Against this background, the senior sources make it clear that in light of the massacre of a thousand Israelis by Hamas, they will not settle for anything less than toppling Hamas and completely negating its military capabilities, and if necessary will employ the full range of governmental and political measures at their disposal to ensure that this happens.
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