JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traded barbs with his defense minister on Monday, underscoring the deep internal splits that continue to plague the government as the war in Gaza risks spilling out into a wider regional conflict.
Following Israeli media reports quoting Defense Minister Yoav Gallant dismissing Netanyahu’s war aim of total victory against the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza as “nonsense,” Netanyahu’s office put out a statement rebuking Gallant.
“When Gallant adopts the anti-Israel narrative, he harms the chances of reaching a hostage deal,” the statement said.
It said Israel’s war aim remained “total victory,” with the elimination of Hamas and the release of the remaining hostages seized by Hamas-led gunmen on Oct. 7 last year.
“This is the clear directive of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Security Cabinet, and it obligates everyone – including Gallant,” it said.
The exchange came as Israel has been bracing for a possible attack by Iran and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon, after a sharp escalation in tensions following a missile strike killed 12 youngsters in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on July 27.
In the wake of that attack, Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut. A day later, the political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, drawing vows of retaliation from Iran.
The public reprimand of Gallant, who has repeatedly clashed with Netanyahu and the nationalist-religious parties in his coalition, was the latest episode of internal strife that has persisted since the government took office in 2022.
Last year, Netanyahu tried to sack Gallant over his opposition to plans to curb the power of the Supreme Court, only to have to reverse course in the face of mass protests by hundreds of thousands of Israelis.
The latest exchange comes ahead of a last ditch attempt to revive Egyptian and Qatari-brokered talks to halt the fighting in Gaza and bring back 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still held in the battered enclave.
Hamas has said it will not send a delegation to the meeting, accusing Netanyahu of wanting to waste time rather than make an honest attempt to reach a deal.
Israel’s prime minister, defense minister trade barbs over Gaza war aims
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Israel’s prime minister, defense minister trade barbs over Gaza war aims
- Following Israeli media reports quoting Gallant dismissing Netanyahu’s war aim of total victory against Hamas as “nonsense,” Gallant was rebuked
US lawmakers press Israel to probe strike on reporters in Lebanon
- “The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said
- Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured
WASHINGTON: Several Democratic lawmakers called Thursday for the Israeli and US governments to fully investigate a deadly 2023 attack by the Israeli military on journalists in southern Lebanon.
The October 13, 2023 airstrike killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six other reporters, including two from AFP — video journalist Dylan Collins and photographer Christina Assi, who lost her leg.
“We expect the Israeli government to conduct an investigation that meets the international standards and to hold accountable those people who did this,” Senator Peter Welch told a news conference, with Collins by his side.
The lawmaker from Collins’s home state of Vermont said he had been pushing for answers for two years, first from the administration of Democratic president Joe Biden and now from the Republican White House of Donald Trump.
The Israeli government has “stonewalled at every single turn,” Welch added.
“With the Israeli government, we have been extremely patient, and we have done everything we reasonably can to obtain answers and accountability,” he said.
“The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said, referring to the Israeli military, adding that it has told his office its investigation into the incident is closed.
Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured.
“But I’d also like them to put pressure on their greatest ally in the Middle East, the Israeli government, to bring the perpetrators to account,” he said, echoing the lawmakers who called the attack a “war crime.”
“We’re not letting it go,” Vermont congresswoman Becca Balint said. “It doesn’t matter how long they stonewall us.”
AFP conducted an independent investigation which concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area in Israel.
The findings were corroborated by other international probes, including investigations conducted by Reuters, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
Unlike Welch’s assertion Thursday that the Israeli probe was over, the IDF told AFP in October that “findings regarding the event have not yet been concluded.”
