'FIRST RAFAH, THEN HEZBOLLAH, THEN IRAN': ISRAEL'S GOVERNMENT PLANS FOR MORE WAR

'First Rafah, Then Hezbollah, Then Iran': Israel's Government Plans for More War

The National Unity Party's hope of influencing Netanyahu to choose the path of sanity is starting to sound almost detached from reality

April 25th, 06AM April 25th, 06AM

This government has a busy schedule of wars planned for us, even though the worst disaster in Israel's history occurred on its watch and more than half the public loathes it and doesn't believe a word its leader says.

"First Rafah, then Hezbollah, then Iran," one minister said of its plans for yet more reserve duty and suffering. It's just a pity that the target bank devised by ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Yitzchak Goldknopf doesn't also include Russia and China.

Unlike the National Unity Party, which has been stuck for months in the narrative of "two or three critical weeks until it decides whether to leave the government (if X or Y happens)," the government's original members are fairly certain about their jobs.

They're convinced the government will survive a crisis over a law to exempt the ultra-Orthodox from military service during the Knesset's summer session. In other words, it will pass a nonsensical plan wrapped in pretty words that will soften the right's moral opposition a bit, even as Israel races toward fateful wars.

The Rafah operation – no one has yet told rightists that the war has ended, and Hamas is still standing – will soon take place, now that the U.S. Senate has approved a new aid package for Israel. U.S. President Joe Biden committed suicide over that package. Yes, that same Biden whom Minister Amichai Chikli said he wouldn't vote for, because "the U.S. under his leadership doesn't project strength, and that harms Israel." Chikli prefers Donald Trump.

"Chikli sounded utterly idiotic," a fellow Likud party minister said. "Admittedly, he reflects a certain sentiment that exists on the right. But to say that a minute after Biden approved a $14 billion aid package is simply irresponsible."

Netanyahu's office was furious at Chikli, the minister added. But Netanyahu himself didn't speak out. He thereby legitimized another statement patently harmful to Israel's immediate interests, a fairly common ritual among cabinet members. "The prime minister's silence is simply a disgrace," another minister from the governing coalition said.

Some members of this 64-MK coalition are tearing their hair out over the continuing irresponsibility. But none of them intends to do anything, because truly terrible consequences are still being averted. Time after time, another earnest lover of Israel – the insurance policy of the government – suppresses his revulsion at the government and comes to the country's aid, thereby saving an ungrateful Netanyahu and his ungrateful government.

The Shas party is trying to put forth ideas for a broad national unity government that would also include Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party and Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid in exchange for an agreed date for new elections. That, they hope, would erode the power of "those maniacs" – namely, all the Itamar Ben-Gvir wannabes in Likud. But above all, they hope it would prevent an election being held even sooner.

But Netanyahu has zero interest in giving this gift. He depicts the very word "election" as criminal and unpatriotic. And even if he is forced to promise to hold one, nobody will believe him.

Shas Chairman Arye Dery "won't gain anything from early elections," one government source said. "It will only hurt him. Therefore, despite his concern for Israel's security, there's no reason to count on him."

People close to National Unity chairman Benny Gantz and his number two, Gadi Eisenkot, say they're at the boiling point. Gantz has said more than once that he "can no longer bear the faces" of the other ministers, and that "every evening, he takes Pramin [anti-nausea medication] to get through another day." Eisenkot is even less tolerant of the other ministers' cynical politics.

On Sunday, Gantz and Eisenkot fought to have the war cabinet meet, rather than postponing it until after the Pesach holiday as Netanyahu had intended. As if the hostages and their families were also on a holiday at the Waldorf Astoria like Netanyahu. Granted, these meetings haven't made any significant decisions for a long time, but they're still the only venue for doing so.

The shocking hostage saga, the postwar scenario in the Gaza Strip, the timing of an attempt to salvage the north – all these are open, bleeding wounds. The National Unity Party's hope of influencing Netanyahu to choose the path of sanity, normalization with Saudi Arabia and the establishment of an alternative to Gaza's Hamas government is starting to sound suspiciously naive, almost detached from reality.

The Rafah operation will soon take place, now that the U.S. Senate has approved a new aid package.

The government is signaling that after the Rafah operation, whose duration nobody knows, the army will deploy for a more substantial campaign up north to push Hezbollah away from the border and allow any brave gamblers to return to their bombed homes before the next school year opens. But given the achievements to date – in the diplomatic, military and intelligence spheres – skepticism about this scenario is warranted.

How is the public supposed to blindly grant a credit line for further adventures to the same government and army that presided over a terrible disaster and a failed war?

2024-04-25T03:10:11Z dg43tfdfdgfd