Netanyahu, Gantz bicker over accusations of ‘defeatist’ attitudes toward Gaza war

After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused National Unity chair Benny Gantz and lawmaker Gadi Eisenkot of wanting to make “washed-up defeatist decisions” that would “leave Hamas intact,” during a cabinet meeting earlier today, National Unity accuses the prime minister of practicing “defeatism.”

“Defeatism: To be afraid of letting the IDF maneuver. To dissolve the entrance to Khan Younis and Rafah. To hesitate to move operative efforts north, and refuse to define the safe return of northern residents to their homes as part of the goals of the war,” the party says in a statement aimed at Netanyahu.

“In the future, the [war’s] protocols will be revealed, and the public will know who stalled and who strived for a real victory.”

Shortly after, Netanyahu’s Likud party bites back at its former coalition partner, warning that “those who fled the war effort will not preach morals to Prime Minister Netanyahu who is leading the campaign and is not willing to compromise on anything less than complete victory.

“Certainly not Benny Gantz who escaped making difficult decisions, who gave in to all international pressure, who agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state and who declared above all that he is ready to end the war before the return of all our hostages and the completion of all our goals,” the Likud statement continues.

Accusing Netanyahu of acting “hysterical,” National Unity retorts that “Gantz and Eisenkot were the first to call for launching the maneuver and aggressive action in Gaza and its expansion to Khan Younis and Rafah,” and that Gantz had been responsible for ensuring Israel had air support from its allies during Iran’s attack in April.

“He never agreed to end the war, nor agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state,” National Unity says of Gantz. “He didn’t deliver the ‘Bar Ilan speech’ and didn’t hand over territory to [Yasser] Arafat, as Netanyahu did.”