Minister Benny Gantz (National Unity) met on Monday night with senior Biden administration officials and said that despite the difficulties and the pressures, Israel will eradicate Hamas’ leadership in Rafah as part of the goals of its war.
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Gantz told National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that “ending the war without clearing out Rafah is like sending a firefighter to extinguish 80% of the fire,” according to a report by Yisrael Hayom.
Gantz also met with US Vice President Kamala Harris, White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, senators and congressmen. All of the officials pressured Gantz to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, and even claimed that Israel is being disingenuous when it states that it is doing everything possible on the matter.
Some of the discussions on humanitarian issues were described by Yisrael Hayom as “difficult”. Biden administration officials expressed skepticism as to whether Israel is capable of evacuating the 1.2 million Gazans currently in and around Rafah before the military operation begins.
Gantz rejected these statements, emphasizing that ending the war in Gaza without a military operation in Rafah is unacceptable to Israel. Regarding the humanitarian aid, Gantz explained that the issue is not one of bringing aid into Gaza but rather of distributing it to the civilians, since Hamas takes over the distribution as part of the preservation of its civil rule of Gaza. He also explained that in order to remove Hamas’ civil government abilities, it may be best to have a period of chaos in Gaza.
Gantz also rejected the idea of reinstating the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, noting that the Palestinian Authority has thus far not undergone sufficient change – something the US also demanded – for such a plan to be viable. Instead, Gantz proposed creating a “Gaza Civil Administration.”
A diplomatic source told Israel Hayom that there are deep differences between the perspective of the US government and that of most Israelis; in his visit, Gantz managed to close some of these gaps and present Israel’s viewpoint.
On the subject of Israel’s northern border, Gantz assured Sullivan that Israel is not interested in war against Hezbollah, but is rather seeking deterrence by displaying steadfast US backing to supply arms.
This is where the liberals like our Jewish friend Paul don’t get it. They say this war is about Bibi and his power. They think most Israelis don’t approve of the war. Ganz who is a never Bibi guy aid centerist now makes it clear that this is Israel’s war where 90% support it and no ceasefire
The PA will be paying the Oct. 7 perpetrators and their families a monthly stipend funded by the hundreds if millions of dollars Joe Biden sent them in contravention of US law. Trump stopped the finding of the PA due to their pay to slay program Biden restarted it.
Its nutty that Gantz went to USA without Bibi’s permission! Imagine if a Dem went to China to negotiate when herr Trump was president. He’d be hung. Gantz needs to resign or pull his party OUT of the “coalition” and War Cabinet.
gantz is a liberal in the mold of Rabin except he grew up Shomer Shabbos but went off after IDF service.
Will somebody in the military PLEASE tell the soldiers to STOP posting videos of themselves blowing up Gaza on social media!!! It’s not doing anything good for Israel’s image.
Far leftists are saying the quiet part out loud now on Twitter. They’re against aid and against any effort to minimize civilian casualties, saying they “don’t want to help America and Israel clear their conscience.” Basically, they think it’s a good thing for civilians to die as long as Israel and America get to be guilty of it.
A proper military strategy is focused on the other guy’s force, not the map. Capturing a city is not important. When you destroy the opposing force, all the geographic objects become yours.
The leaders of Israel’s military and intelligence are not chosen in a democratic fashion. No elected officials can fire or replace any of these leaders; they are all appointed by the US military intelligence. It was the US military intelligence that gave the stand down orders on October 7th. US military weapons manufacturers benefit financially from selling weapons to Ukraine and Israel, and so they benefit from creating public support for long drawn out military conflicts.
The two front-line IDF bases defending the Gazan border are Nahal Oz and Re’im, between them there has never been fewer than 5000 soldiers 24/7, until just before October 7, when there were only 48 soldiers at Nahal Oz (22 of them new female recruits), and less than one hundred soldiers at the Re’im base.
Just days before 7/11 these bases were suddenly ordered emptied of soldiers by Shabak director Ronen Bar, Mosad director David Barnea, IDF Chief of staff Herzi Halevi, Southern command chief Yaron Finkelman, and IDF chief of intelligence Aharon Haliva.
On October 7, these men also gave stand-down orders to the twelve thousand troops in the four ground-troop nearby bases: 1. Nitzanim base, and 2. Melakhi Junction base, both just north of Gaza, 3. Arad to the east, and 4. Nitzana on the Egyptian border. Stand down orders were also given to commanders of the air force bases Sde Boker – 6 km southeast of Gaza, and Nevatim 50km east of Gaza.