Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumAs Israel Erupts in Anger, Netanyahu Spins, Lies, and Sentences the Hostages to Death
Netanyahu, masking his motives with security concerns, is chiefly protecting his political position. He's working to maintain his coalition, which might unravel if a Gaza deal goes throughHaaretz
Amos Harel
Sept 3rd 2024
Sunday night's massive protests, after months in which the protests had waned as the war dragged on, gave supporters of a hostage deal new hope. Since Hamas' massacre in southern Israel on October 7, the protest organizations have had trouble recruiting the general public to their various battles, from advancing a deal to bring the hostages home from the Gaza Strip, to toppling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum feared being associated too closely with Netanyahu's opponents, but it has long since become clear that the prime minister isn't interested in a deal. And many of the people who enthusiastically joined the protests against the judicial coup before the war now find it hard to go out and protest when their relatives and friends are fighting (and sometimes being wounded) in Gaza.
The news that six hostages were murdered by their Hamas captors in a tunnel in Rafah began spreading by word of mouth early Saturday evening, while a small demonstration was taking place outside Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. The next morning, when the Israel Defense Forces officially announced the deaths and their circumstances, anger erupted.
By Sunday evening, hundreds of thousands of people had flooded the streets of Tel Aviv and dozens of other places across the country. The crowds in Tel Aviv resembled those on the night in March 2023 when masses turned out to protest Netanyahu's firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. So did demonstrators' determination to block the Ayalon Highway, where traffic was disrupted for several hours.
The demonstrations continued for most of Monday, backed by the Histadrut labor federation's partial shutdown of the economy, which caused limited economic disruptions. Thousands also attended the funerals of two of the victims, Carmel Gat of Kibbutz Be'eri and Hersh Goldberg-Polin of Jerusalem, which also attracted considerable media interest overseas.
Continued @ : https://archive.md/WLtb5
Lonestarblue
(11,976 posts)Beastly Boy
(11,295 posts)National Unity Head Benny Gantz and MK Gadi Eisenkot will give a statement to the media Tuesday evening at 8:30 p.m. in Kfar Maccabiah. In it, they will refute Netanyahu's arguments and reveal the truth about the Philadelphi corridor and their hostage return plans.
Israeli
(4,310 posts)Gantz is looking towards his own political future ,.... dont get me wrong I like the guy , he was my sons commanding officer
and ive met him a few times . .....but I would never vote for him .
He is not a politician and Bibi has run rings around him so many times already .
Gadi Eisenkot will get the sympathy vote , and rightly so , he lost his son and sisters son fighting Hamas
within gaza
ref : Former IDF chief's nephew falls in Gaza one day after his son
see : https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bj8fzqm8t
Its all about who will replace Bibi .....will it be Gantz or Yair Lapid ??
there is somebody else tho that nobody is paying attention to ......
Naftali Bennett .
Beastly Boy
(11,295 posts)He is most likely to form the next government, IMO. And he would be an incremental improvement over Netanyahu.
Most important, Bennett is not under a criminal investigation - he has no personal skin in the game, which makes him more flexible in governing.
I believe that Netanyahu's government is not so terrible because of Netanyahu, but because of his right wing ministers. They dictate the terms to Bibi, not the other way around. Bibi made the devil's bargain when he invited them into the coalition (again, for the selfish reason of saving his ass from being prosecuted). He thought that, being a brilliant politician he imagines himself to be, he could control them. They had a different idea, and now Bibi is doing their bidding, or else his career is over and he is back where he started before the current government was formed.
Every time Bibi moves his lips, I hear Gvir and Smotrich talking. Bibi is not the puppet master he once imagined himself to be, he is the puppet.
This is the tragedy of the Gaza war. The decisions are being made not for the benefit of Israel, but to promote a religious dogma. Netanyahu himself does not subscribe to this dogma, but for selfish reasons, he made himself its instrument, to the detriment of his nation. It's an unforgivable sin.
Bennett, the far right winger that he is, surely learned from Bibi's fundamental error in judgement. He will not allow religious zealots to control him. Having seen the devastation they brought on the country, no one but the desperate Netanyahu will. For the pragmatic secular Bennett, Gantz and Eisenkott are far more likely coalition partners. Even the coalition with what remains of Likud after the war, although less stable, will remove the religious zealots from running the country.
And Bibi's time is coming. Not only did he fail his country, he failed in shielding himself from the law. One way or the other, no matter how much longer he can delay the outcome, when the war is over, so is his political life.
would be an improvement over Netanyahu.
definitely , 100 percent agree .
Bennett is not far Right , far from it .
He is a religious moderate .
I would prefer anyone thats not religious , kind of leaves me with Yair Lapid .
Ill vote Meretz and hope for the best .
Beastly Boy
(11,295 posts)Bibi's coalition is so unstable, I wonder how it stays in place.
i am very curious about what happens to Likud once Netanyahu falls.
Israeli
(4,310 posts)thats the whole point of the demonstrations
we were hoping he would resign
its not the same country anymore tho
remember when Golda resigned in 1974 after the Yom Kippur war ?
when Rabin resigned as prime minister due to the exposure of a bank account found in the United States in his wifes name, which was forbidden at the time. ??
they had integrity, honor and respect for the people wishes .
Bibi doesnt give a damn about us .....its all about him .
Aussie105
(6,447 posts)Random acts of violence directed towards Palestinian civilians and dead Israeli hostages won't slow him down any.
It's part of the plan.