Gallant says Israel’s wars lack direction: Report
Israeli media outlets are reporting that the defence minister sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war cabinet ahead of Israel’s attack on Iran on Saturday, saying Israel’s wars are being conducted “without a valid compass”.
In the letter, Gallant also called for Israel’s war objectives to be updated, according to Channel 13 and the Haaretz newspaper. He is said to have proposed four new goals for the arenas in which Israel operates – Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and the West Bank.
For Gaza, he advocated “establishing a reality without a military threat, preventing the enhancement of terror capabilities, securing the return of all hostages, and promoting an alternative to Hamas rule”. In the West Bank, he called for the prevention of “outbreak of violence by thwarting terrorism”; in Iran, “deterrence and keeping Iran out of the war”; and for Lebanon, “creating a security situation that allows residents of the north [of Israel] to return to their homes as soon as possible”.
Netanyahu’s office called Gallant’s letter “quite puzzling”, according to Haaretz. “There is one compass, which is the war objectives as determined by the security cabinet. The objectives are constantly being evaluated and were recently expanded,” it said.
Gallant, Netanyahu disagree on ‘where to draw the line’ in Israel’s wars
Disagreements between the Israeli defence minister and the prime minister have broken out in the open, with Gallant saying that Israel must make concessions [and] that it must better define the goals of the war.
In a letter he sent right before Israel struck Iran, Gallant said Israel’s goals weren’t very clear.
Of course, Netanyahu responded to that by saying the letter was confusing and that the goals were very clear.
These disagreements are not about the fundamentals. There isn’t really a disagreement between Gallant and Netanyahu about waging the war on Gaza or even the assault on Lebanon. The disagreement is on where to draw the line. And Gallant is echoing the sentiments of the families of the captives, saying that now, perhaps, is the time to reach a ceasefire. He signalled that in his speeches, especially at the memorial for the October 7 attacks, saying that Hamas and Hezbollah have suffered a lot of losses, their capabilities are degraded and now is the time to reach a political solution.
But for now, there aren’t really any indications on whether Netanyahu has changed his mind or is committed to reaching that deal. And the delegation that went to Doha was not reportedly authorised to make any concessions.
What is Netanyahu’s strategy for Gaza?
Said Arikat, an adjunct professor at the American University, told Al Jazeera that it was unlikely Netanyahu would ever agree to a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Netanyahu never really had a strategy. And that is his strategy – to keep everybody guessing,” Arikat said from Washington, DC.
“What we have seen is a strategy of killing, destruction, making life in Gaza unimaginable or making Gaza uninhabitable and so on. These are the goals. We know that he’s killed a lot of Palestinians. He’s on a killing campaign of the Palestinians. He’s using starvation as a weapon of war,” he said.
“Netanyahu knows very well that whatever criticism is not going to be translated into any kind of tangible pressure to make him to stop the war, to make him agree to a ceasefire. That is as long as the Biden administration keeps aiding him and keeps giving him the kind of support that empowers him to go on,” he added.
