IDF Admits It Can't Win Netanyahu Isn't Listening

In a tactical retreat, the IDF issued another statement – that it was committed to stated war goals, including destroying Hamas's governing and military abilities. Hagari, according to this statement, had merely spoken about“eradicating Hamas as an ideology and an idea.”

But the commanders, and Netanyahu, knew that the warning bell could not be unrung – particularly as, only ten days earlier, former IDF commander Benny Gantz had fired his own shot at the prime minister.

On May 18, Gantz – one of the three members of the war cabinet – gave Netanyahu a three-week ultimatum . In a televised address, he said the prime minister had put his personal and political interests ahead of the existential needs of the state of Israel, allowing“hard-right zealots” to put the country at risk.

Among Gantz's six strategic demands were putting prioritiy on a return of hostages and installing a new political leadership in Gaza, rather than emphasizing the“destruction” of Hamas.

Netanyahu rejected all the demands , including a timeframe for a path toward a state of Palestine along with Israel's normalisation with Arab countries. On June 9, Gantz left the war cabinet . A week later, the prime minister dissolved the body .

This has only prolonged Netanyahu's dilemma. The day that a Gaza ceasefire is announced, he will be in political and legal jeopardy unless Hamas no longer exists.

Early elections will probably follow in Israel, and he is far behind Gantz and the National Unity Party in polling. Perhaps more importantly, he will face bribery charges which have effectively been suspended by the war.

But there is prospect neither of his promised destruction of Hamas nor that Gaza's civilians, – facing death, starvation and deprivation each day – will rise up against the leadership.

In a rare enforcement of a“red line,” the US checked any plan for an all-out ground assault on Rafah. To hold off pressure, Netanyahu has made vague statements about a redeployment of the army , while persisting with bombs on Hamas and civilian alike.

So with no plan B, what does Netanyahu do to stem the pressure upon him from inside and outside Israel? He plays for time. In the past week, Netanyahu has said he supports only a“partial” hostage deal with Hamas, so Israel could resume fighting after women, the elderly, and sick were released.

He has picked a fight with the US about the supply of American weapons for Israel's war. And he has threatened to expand the fighting with Hezbollah across the Lebanese border in the north.

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None of these are a Gaza plan B. They are Netanyahu's personal plan A. Throw out a daily distraction or diversion to avoid media focus on the ceasefire talks, on the carnage in Gaza, or on the failure to“destroy” Hamas.

The IDF's warning , combined with Gantz's departure from the war cabinet is a signal that the military is weary of an open-ended assault with no political vision.

But when will that weariness lead to a decisive rejection of Netanyahu's approach? For now, given that the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has not indicated he will make a break – and given the pressure from hard-right ministers to ethnically cleanse Gaza in a long-term occupation – that question, like Netanyahu's options, has no answer.

Scott Lucas is a professor of international politics at the Clinton Institute, University College Dublin .

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

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