Netanyahu Replaces Fired Israeli Defense Minister With ‘Another Chance of Extermination’

November 6, 2024 admin Finance 0

Yves here. I hate to sound like a stickler about the Common Dreams post generated below. Trying to find differences between genodicers can sound like what the Japanese call a superiority contest between peanuts: differences that don’t seem to matter to them. However, it is wrong to portray the newly installed Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz as the equal of Yoav Gallant, who was recently fired by Netanyahu. By Israeli standards, Gallant is a center and Katz is a tight end.

There has been a long-standing rift between Gallant and Netanyahu. Netanyahu had fired Gallant before, in 2023, but reinstated him a month later.

Gallant appeared surprised by his removal, even though there were signs that things were getting worse between the two men. Gallant appeared to see part of his job as a lawyer for the IDF, reportedly, a former air force, exhausted and dealing with a high rate of death and casualties. Larry Wilkerson pointed out that the injuries are at least caused by Israel, since the rate is very high due to the proximity of the Israelis to the front lines (that is, soldiers who may die of their wounds on other battlefields can often be quickly transported to the best hospitals). And these injuries are often, as the bloodless saying goes, life-changing, like losing limbs.

So Gallant’s comparative assessment seemed to stem at least in part from understanding the IDF’s limitations and trying to get Israel to chart a realistic course. But hardliners see wars as eschatological and at least some believe that God will bring them out. Netanyahu needs to keep the controversies out of office and out of jail.

The latest sign that the relationship between Gallant and Netanyahu has deteriorated significantly is when Netanyahu canceled Gallant’s trip to the US to meet with Defense Department officials to “coordinate” as in negotiating and planning, how Israel’s response to Iran’s October 1 missile attack. Israel, which was finally admitted to be successful in striking the war weapons (and worse for Israel, especially penetrating Israeli air defenses). Netanyahu insisted that Biden talk to him first. Gallant’s expedition was not rescheduled; instead Defense Department personnel came to Israel.

I suspect that the main reason Netanyahu canceled Gallant’s visit was that he suspected that Gallant would work (as a conspirator) with the US on how to deter Israel’s response, especially since Iran’s success revealed how vulnerable Israel would be to another, almost certainly. the biggest, the attack on Iran. Remember that Iran had said it was ready to call things the day after its October 1 protest, but if Israel attacks Iran again, Iran will hit hard and among other things will target civilian infrastructure. Western media have reported that the US wants Israel to make a limited retaliation, instead of hitting Iran’s oil infrastructure as it threatened. The Biden Administration wants to prevent an escalation of the war before the election, especially since Iran is too big and well-positioned for Israel to bring about a rematch. Iran could easily take steps that would cripple oil exports and/or production and drive energy prices through the roof.

Now admittedly, forcing the US to come to Israel to negotiate a strike does not seem to have given Netanyahu the opportunity to respond in the aggressive manner that he and other senior officials have been vocal about. However, having the talks take place in Israel would prevent Gallant and any like-minded members of his group from discussing freely.

The Times of Israel account has Netanyahu portraying Gallant as insubordinate, as he does not follow his and the Cabinet’s directives, and presents a cheap picture, by portraying Gallant as a near traitor:

“I made many efforts to close these gaps, but they kept growing,” he said [Netanyahu] said. “They also gained access to public information in an unacceptable way, and worse, they gained access to enemy information – our enemies enjoyed it and benefited greatly from it.”

However, the televised attack gave Gallant an opportunity to tell his side of the story. And from the Times of Israel:

After his firing on Tuesday, Gallant released his one-line statement, writing to X that “the security of the State of Israel has always been my life’s work, and always will be my work.”

This statement was similar to the one he published on the night of his first shooting, 18 months ago.

He elaborated in a press conference later on Tuesday night, when he appeared depressed as he explained that the reason for his dismissal was threefold: the need to write to Haredi men in the IDF, the need to return hostages from Gaza, the need for a federal commission of inquiry into the terrorist attacks by Hamas on October 7 and the subsequent war.

All three of these programs are a threat to Netanyahu. The IDF recently began writing Haredim about their strong opposition. Their parties are part of Netanyahu’s coalition. The issue of kidnapping is a very big problem for Bibi. Returning hostages means negotiations with Hamas. Hamas will not release them for anything less than a permanent, or at least long, ceasefire. The ceasefire will trigger demands for new elections. The independent commission on October 7 will also undermine Netanyahu. Not only did the attack happen on his watch, but the investigation will also draw attention to how Netanyahu supported Hamas even before the 2006 elections that made it the leading party in Gaza in a bid to undermine the PLO.

The Financial Times points out that Netanyahu timed this shooting (which may have also been a massacre in Gaza) to take advantage of the opportunity to run in the US elections. From the Financial Times:

But, despite the escalating conflict between Gallant and Netanyahu, the timing of his ouster — which comes as Israel is in the midst of a joint conflict with enemies including Hamas, Hizbollah and Iran — was unexpected….

Gallant has been a key liaison with Israel’s main ally, the US, throughout the war, and a person familiar with the situation said announcing his dismissal on the day of the US election was no accident.

“Everybody knows that the American people love Gallant,” the person said. “So [Netanyahu] he chose this time because he is not there [in the US] has the attention span to follow this closely [today].”

Larry Wilkerson scored the highlight of Gallant’s sack. He sees the shake-up as Netanyahu needing to distract attention from his military failures and domestic pressures. He also describes the number of serious injuries in Lebanon alone as 4,000, which is very high considering the short duration of that campaign.

Now for the main event.

Written by Brett Wilkins. Originally published in Common Dreams

Palestinian defenders on Tuesday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of replacing a “homicidal maniac” with another after the right-wing leader fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and replaced him with Israel Katz, who served as foreign minister.

“Israel has just doubled down on increasing the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza,” said journalist and genocide expert Samira Mohyeddin on social media following Netanyahu’s actions.

Netanyahu cited what he called a “crisis of trust” that had “deepened” as his reason for the change, which comes as Israel battles Gaza and Lebanon while looking to retaliate against Iran for Israel’s recent attacks on the Middle Eastern nation.

“In the middle of a war, more than ever, there is a need for complete trust between the prime minister and the defense minister,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday, according to the report.The Jerusalem Post. “This trust has been broken between me and the minister of defense.”

Katz, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, has previously held several Cabinet positions, most recently as Israel’s top diplomat. He was the minister of energy and infrastructure on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led forces launched a surprise attack on Israel that left more than 1,100 people dead – at least some by group fire – and more than 240 others taken hostage and taken to Gaza. .

Two days later, Katz issued an order to “immediately cut off the supply of water from Israel to Gaza.”

“Electricity and fuel were shut off yesterday,” he said. “What was there will not be there. All people in Gaza are ordered to leave immediately. We will win. They won’t get a drop of water or a single battery until they leave.”

Katz’s order followed Gallant’s order for a “total siege” of Gaza.

“There will be no electricity, food, fuel, everything is closed,” said Gallant. “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”

These statements by Gallant and Katz were cited in the International Court of Justice’s January 26 interim order that Israel prohibit acts of genocide in Gaza. Israel—which faces genocide charges at the ICJ—is accused of ignoring this and the orders issued by the tribunal.

On Tuesday, Israeli state media reported that the Israel Defense Forces had completed dividing Gaza into two parts, and that “there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes.”

Katz was also criticized for declaring United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres “persona non grata in Israel” for criticizing the Gaza war, which has left more than 155,000 Palestinians in Gaza dead, wounded, or missing and millions more starving. those who are sick.

While serving as Israel’s foreign minister, Katz was also condemned for threatening “repercussions” against countries that officially recognize the state of Palestine. About 150 of the 193 member states of the United Nations recognize Palestine.

Katz also raised eyebrows in 2022 after he made a veiled threat to ethnically cleanse Israel’s Arab citizens. In response to Israeli Arab students who displayed a Palestinian flag on college campuses, Katz said “remember ’48,” a reference to 1948, when Israel declared its independence amid a campaign of ethnic cleansing in which more than 750,000 Arabs were expelled from Palestine. to make a way. Jewish settlement.

The Palestinians call this dispossession and mass displacement the Nakba, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic.

“Remember our liberation war and your Nakba,” Katz said. “Don’t stretch the rope too much… If you don’t calm down, we will teach you a lesson you will never forget.”

“Ask your elders—your grandfathers and grandmothers—and they will explain to you that finally, the Jews are waking up, they know how to defend themselves and the idea of ​​a Jewish state,” he added.

In one of his last acts as foreign minister, Katz on Monday began the process of annulling a 1967 agreement between Israel and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which Israel accuses of being “infiltrated” by Hamas. The UN strongly opposes Israel’s accusations.




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