Netanyahu says National Security Council has held 8 deliberations on ‘day after’ in Gaza
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The National Security Council has held eight separate discussions on how to handle the “day after” Israel’s combat operations in Gaza end, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says during a press conference in Tel Aviv, adding that the issue will be raised during this week’s security cabinet meeting.
Earlier this month, Channel 13 reported that Netanyahu had set up a small, secret team of top allies and representatives from the defense establishment to discuss postwar plans, which have been a source of tension between Jerusalem and Washington.
Netanyahu on Thursday night canceled a war cabinet meeting at the last minute that was meant to address postwar arrangements for the Gaza Strip, apparently due to pressure from his far-right coalition partners including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Netanyahu has to date refused to hold any meetings on the matter, reportedly because he does not want to reveal the expected role that Palestinian Authority officials will have in managing Gaza’s civil affairs after the war.
Asked about the canceled meeting, he says the war cabinet instead held “a different debate” devoted to what he said was “the most important national security issue.” He did not elaborate.
“As regards the day after,” the prime minister says, “first let’s get to the day after… First, let’s destroy Hamas.”
His own opinion, he reiterates, is that Gaza after the war must be demilitarized, with subsequent civil governance that does finance or encourage terrorism: “Not Fatahstan and not Hamastan,” he says.
National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi recently implied that the government may allow a reformed Palestinian Authority a role in governing Gaza after the war, but this was later walked back by an Israeli official who told reporters that Hanegbi’s words had been “misunderstood.”
Asked about reports that he has prevented Defense Minister Yoav Gallant from meeting with the Mossad and Shin Bet chiefs without his presence, Netanyahu says “I’ve not prevented anyone from meeting.”
On other questions, he dismisses as “a joke” reports that Qatar funded a Likud election campaign to the tune of millions of dollars in 2013, and funded a 2018 campaign of his own. “Not a single shekel” was received from Qatar, he says.
He says “it would be a mistake to raise taxes” to help alleviate the costs of the war.
He repeats that if Hezbollah wants to widen the fighting, escalating the war, “it will get war” in return. The problem in the north can be solved, he says, “if possible diplomatically, if not then by other means.”
Asked about the transfer of funds to settlements, he denies the reporter’s question about whether he has “lost control” of Bezalel Smotrich, says no sections of the populace are cut off from the government budget, and objects to what he says is selective criticism of that part of the populace.
He also says the economy is resilient, and refers to Intel’s new agreement with the government.