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G7 failed Gaza moral test, exposing hypocrisy and double standards
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara has highlighted the G7’s failure in what he regards as a moral test over Gaza, pointing out the group’s hypocrisy and double standards.
Bishara emphasised that the G7’s expected final communique, which will likely express concern over the Israel-Lebanon border situation and urge Israel to avoid a full-scale invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, is “absolutely meaningless”.
Israeli Labor Party leader says ‘huge protests’ must remove Netanyahu, blasts Gaza strategy
Yair Golan, head of Israel’s Labor Party and a former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli military, has said his country’s war on Gaza “has no realistic goals” and it was not possible to “free the hostages and destroy Hamas at the same time”.
In a long post on social media, Golan said it was possible – four months ago – to have reached a deal on the captives that would have seen them return home and the war to end.
“The one who prevented this is Netanyahu, thus preferring his own political interest over the lives of Israeli men and women whom he is responsible for neglecting. It’s the truth,” Golan said.
Just as “Israel has no idea or plan” in Gaza, Golan said Netanyahu’s government “has no plan to end the war in the north” where Israeli forces and Hezbollah are in an increasingly bloody border confrontation.
“The government must be replaced, this will not happen without huge protests that will make it clear to Netanyahu and his partners that they have no choice but to call for new elections,” Golan said.
Israeli polls find Netanyahu’s party reducing gap with Gantz
Two new electoral polls show that Netanyahu’s Likud party has reduced the gap with former minister Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party. However, both polls indicated that the majority of voters would prefer Gantz as the country’s leader.
The polls, for the left-wing Ma’ariv daily and the right-wing Israel Hayom newspaper, showed Likud winning 21 seats behind the National Unity Party on 24. Last week, the Ma’ariv poll showed Gantz’s party on 27 seats. At the beginning of the year, it regularly polled in the high 30s.
The poll also found that the current ruling coalition would win 52 seats in the 120-seat Knesset against 58 for the main opposition parties.
Netanyahu has refused to call early elections and would not face a vote until 2026 if his coalition holds.
Gantz winning elections would not change much either, but got to start somewhere to get rid of Netanyahu.
