Many noticed Benny Gantz's ambush of the prime minister when he approached him live about the budget. Few people noticed that it was actually Benjamin Netanyahu who made the real ambush, not to mention Little Red Riding Hood, for Gantz and Yoav Galant.
For weeks now, the defense establishment has been discussing the day after in the Gaza Strip. While the position of the army, headed by the chief of staff, holds that after the fighting and the collapse of Hamas, Israel must leave Gaza and transfer control to an external entity, Arab or international, Netanyahu announced that the only entity in the world that can ensure that Gaza remains demilitarized forever is the IDF. He ridiculed supporters of other elements entering Gaza, noting: "We saw where it led. I'm not willing to close my eyes and accept any other arrangement."
Transferring the stick in Gaza to foreign hands is not only the IDF's position. Yoav Galant wholeheartedly supports this. Of course, Benny Gantz too. And not only them. "After the war, Israel will not control Gaza, but will transfer responsibility to another entity, international or Arab, and the IDF will reserve the right to enter Gaza in order to maintain security. Despite the voices on the right, this is the army's position and it will be so," a senior defense official said just last week. The model to which the defense establishment is aiming for Gaza is the Area A model in Judea and Samaria: full civilian control by the Arabs, prohibition of entry to Jews, but when necessary, the IDF enters and creates order.
GPO
If there is real pressure on Israel in recent weeks, beyond the constant pressure on the entry of trucks, fuel and ensuring proper humanitarian conditions for Gazans during the fighting, it is the pressure on the day after.
The Biden administration is doing everything it can to pressure the Israeli leadership to announce that handing over Gaza to Arab hands is an integral part of its plans. This issue was at the heart of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent visit to Israel, and some would say even the purpose of the entire visit.
That is why Netanyahu's statement raised eyebrows, not to mention jaw-dropping, not only in the various offices in the Kirya in Tel Aviv, but apparently also in the relevant rooms in the US capital.
The prime minister has been wallowing in this matter for a long time. Transferring Gaza to the PA was the only option on the table. Netanyahu didn't like her. He sought to look for alternatives. When such were not found, he began to express his feelings and announced that he would not allow the transfer of Gaza to PA control from Ramallah, as long as it was a terror-supporting authority that transfers salaries to terrorists and names squares and streets after them. America toed the line, and in Biden's statement immediately after Netanyahu, the president used the phrase "the PA in a different format." As time passed, and discussions on the subject deepened, the truth became clear – that there is no such animal. That it's either Israel, or Gaza is once again a terrorist zone.
The top echelons of the defense establishment – and this includes all the ministers in the war cabinet except Ron Dermer – would have been happy if Netanyahu had waited with the announcement of the day after on Tuesday of this week. But the prime minister, as mentioned, thought otherwise. The hostage deal, the ceasefire, the introduction of humanitarian aid and fuel, and the stuttering about the day after – all these left him scarred on the right. The feeling that they weren't going to finish the job and leave Gaza ahead of time began to spread. Even senior security officials began briefing on the fact that the prime minister was already looking for an exit point, contrary to their position that they wanted to continue until the goals were achieved.
Netanyahu came to the conclusion that he had to flex his muscles. Alignment at the outset with the Americans was replaced by a much more assertive stance, including drastically reducing the humanitarian aid that America demanded, piling up difficulties, and delaying the demand for fuel. The prime minister even responded in no way to the request of the White House and the State Department to lower the flames in the southern Gaza Strip.
Stately, but less
Benny Gantz briefly shed the cloak of statehood he had worn from the moment he entered the government, and stung Netanyahu, in a pre-planned written sting, live broadcast during the press conference, calling on Netanyahu to cut the coalition funds before the Knesset vote. The exercise was unsuccessful. Engaging in politics so openly during combat, during a press conference about the war and after a charged meeting with the families of the abductees, took many points off the public darkness he had cultivated. It's not the very preoccupation with politics, but the carelessness of hiding it.
Engaging in politics itself is not foreign to Gantz, not even during the war. There seems to be no political figure more anxious about her image these days than the head of the state camp. Entering the government returned him to his natural environment in the war cabinet, but removed him from the protected hotbed of the opposition. In order for the failures of the government, or the moves that his base opposes, not to stick with him, he must attack the government and its leader all the time, from morning to night. From press releases against Netanyahu, to getting members of his party to attack the government, to a live sting. Being in a coalition and feeling in opposition. Participate in the most secret discussions with Netanyahu, and then vote against him in the Knesset.
Talking about the end of an era. Barkat, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Gantz's conduct today is very similar to his conduct during the privatized government, when he and his colleagues did not stop attacking Netanyahu while serving as ministers in his government. To make matters worse, Gantz is running his party's affairs against the backdrop of his partner's regular muscle demonstration, Gideon Sa'ar, which signals that he is back in the Likud and the state camp is on the verge of a split. Polls, by the way, conducted by Gantz all the time, show that the new hope of Gideon Sa'ar, Zeev Elkin and Yifat Shasha Biton neither raises nor lowers even one ounce of support for the list of the state camp for the Knesset. Gantz's concern is that through his current flirtation with Netanyahu, Sa'ar is trying to increase his value ahead of future negotiations with him, the Likud or any other entity that exists or will emerge later.
Launching experimental balloons
The Likud sees similarities in the conduct of two key players in recent times: Yoav Galant and Nir Barkat. Both challenge Netanyahu's leadership. Both are also flexing their muscles for the rest of the Likud leadership, especially those who see themselves as candidates for the party's leadership one day. Both also came to the Likud from outside: Galant from Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu party, and Barkat from Kadima's districts, although he claimed that he had never been an official member of it.
But there is also a very big difference in their conduct. While Galant, who has made it clear that his political future is only in the Likud, is careful not to get caught in politics and manages his moves secretly and with sophistication, Barkat put things on the table. Only recently did he meet Likud activists in Nahariya, Kiryat Gat (including veteran center member Yehuda Cohen at the bicycle shop), Yokneam and Megiddo. In his meetings, Barkat tells his listeners that the Netanyahu era is over, that the Likud needs to renew itself with another candidate, and that he intends to run in the primaries for the party's leadership. Barkat denies the allegations, saying that his run for the leadership of the Likud is only in case Netanyahu decides to step down. Others insist they understood his words differently.
Lapid knows that very soon the calls for Netanyahu's ouster will intensify, including the demonstrations that will receive increasing media coverage. Therefore, he appropriated the message that the goal of the war was first of all the return of the hostages - and then everything else
In addition to his talks with the activists, various personalities affiliated with him met with several Knesset members to examine the feasibility of forming an alternative government without elections, through a constructive vote of no confidence. Barkat denies any connection to the matter, but in any case the move collapsed before it even began. The likelihood of toppling the government in a no-confidence motion against Netanyahu is zero.
At Netanyahu's press conference earlier this week, the prime minister was asked why it was not held jointly with Galant, who announced his own event separately. Netanyahu could have easily dodged the question, but chose to answer directly: I suggested Galant come, but he preferred it alone. Such an outing of the murky relationship between the prime minister and the defense minister is not remembered for a long time. Galant later explained that he wanted to deal only with military matters, following the renewal of fire after the completion of the hostage deal, and not with other political and economic matters that often characterize press conferences with the prime minister. Around Netanyahu, they didn't buy. He just wants the whole stage for himself, they said. Next to Netanyahu is second fiddle.
The Hitchhiker
Yair Lapid has come to the conclusion that the only way for him to remain relevant these days in the political arena is to go to a place where he knows how to play better than anyone else - the television studios. He doesn't have to physically come to interviews and babble himself to know. It is enough for him to express the "right" positions. While the public has moved quite a bit to the right following Simchat Torah events, in the main studios there is almost no expression of this. The families of the abductees who attack the government get the whole stage, families with a different approach disappear.
One studio went so far as to allow a panelist on the program to brazenly attack Eliyahu Libman, whose son was kidnapped to Gaza from a bad guy party, when he claimed that not attacking the government leads to his son's abandonment. How much obtuseness and evil does it take to say such a sentence to a father from a family that hasn't slept at night for two months with worry and anxiety about the fate of her son.
Lapid knows that very soon the calls for Netanyahu's ouster will intensify, including the demonstrations that will receive increasing media coverage. That's why he's appropriated the message for himself now. Therefore, he announced that the goal of the war was first of all the return of the hostages, and only then everything else. It's not a message that is in great demand among the general public, but in television studios it's the prevailing opinion. Lapid wants to swallow up the Labor Party with messages no less radical than the left, with the understanding that this is a campaign that will finance itself. Why buy media with money when you can advertise for free in current affairs studios? On the mistake of anti-government demonstrations that take place without him while he is vacationing abroad, as he did at the beginning of the Kaplan demonstrations, he does not intend to return this time.
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