Written by Mark LewinBBC News, Jerusalem
Getty ImagesA senior member of Israel's war cabinet has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not telling the truth about his country's military objectives in Gaza.
Mr. Netanyahu publicly It rejected American efforts to establish a future Palestinian state He insisted that the attack would continue “until complete victory.”
But Gadi Eisenkot – who His son was martyred during the fighting in Gaza – He said that those who call for the “absolute defeat” of Hamas are not “telling the truth.”
The retired general also said that Netanyahu bears “sharp and clear responsibility” for the failure to protect his country on October 7, and called for new elections, saying there is “no trust” in the current Israeli leadership.
Hamas killed about 1,300 people and took 240 hostage in its surprise attack on southern Israel.
The tensions in the Cabinet, with reports that Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yoav Galant are barely speaking, come as the gap between Israel and its Western allies widens.
After Netanyahu's statements regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state, White House National Security Advisor John Kirby said that the United States and Israel “are clearly looking at things differently.”
The Foreign Ministry spokesman said that there is no way to solve the security challenges facing Israel without establishing a Palestinian state.
But Mr. Netanyahu's comments were not surprising.
He has spent his career resisting the establishment of a Palestinian state, and just last month he bragged that he was proud to have prevented its creation.
The timing of another rebuttal by the Biden administration will heighten a sense of his growing international isolation, as the death toll in Gaza approaches 25,000, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The United States has repeatedly tried to influence Israeli military strategy during this conflict, urging more precisely targeted attacks in Gaza rather than all-out air strikes; delaying or abandoning a ground invasion; And engage in meaningful talks on a two-state solution in which Israel would be adjacent to the future Palestinian state, with a role for the Palestinian Authority.
But Netanyahu has often rejected these calls during tense meetings with US officials, deepening frustration in some US circles over President Biden's unconditional support for Israel.
With this conflict likely to die, Israel's allies hope that the dormant two-state plan will be revived as the only way to achieve lasting peace.
But Netanyahu's comments seem to show that he wants just the opposite: a position he no doubt hopes will be more in line with a future administration of Donald Trump, who could have been timed to give his old American friend red meat to rally his supporters for Israel. Supporters in an American election year.
Inside Israel, an increasingly unpopular prime minister is turning to the far-right who support his government.
ReutersA recent opinion poll showed that only 15% of Israelis want him to keep his post after the war.
Although most Israelis continue to support military action against Hamas, a majority now say they want to prioritize repatriating the remaining approximately 130 hostages over the potentially impossible goal of destroying Hamas.
His recent comments about a future Palestinian state also represent a rejection of Arab attempts to mediate the conflict.
Saudi Arabia offered him the prize of normalizing relations with Israel as part of a ceasefire agreement that includes a two-state solution.
But it seems that the Israeli Prime Minister has bet his political survival on a hard-line anti-Palestinian stance.
He can no longer market himself as “Mr. Security” after the worst attacks in Israel's history that occurred under his leadership.
Now he has become “Mr. No to Independent Palestine”: a position he believes will mesh with the public mood here, which, despite growing love for its prime minister, is still so traumatized that it cannot envision a contiguous Palestinian state.
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