Netanyahu issued a rare public rebuke of his own minister:
"Israel has the full right to prevent provocative flotillas of Hamas
terror supporters from entering our territorial waters and reaching Gaza.
However, the manner in which Minister Ben Gvir treated the flotilla activists
is not in line with the values and norms of the State of Israel. I have
instructed the relevant authorities to deport the provocateurs as quickly as
possible."
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar was more scathing.
Unfortunately, this disapproval by Netanyahu of aiding Hamas comes more than three years late. In an opinion piece printed by The Times of Israel the day after Hamas' terrorist attack on 10/7/23, Tal Schneider explained
For years, the various governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu took an approach that divided power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank — bringing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to his knees while making moves that propped up the Hamas terror group.
The idea was to prevent Abbas — or anyone else in the Palestinian Authority’s West Bank government — from advancing toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Thus, amid this bid to impair Abbas, Hamas was upgraded from a mere terror group to an organization with which Israel held indirect negotiations via Egypt, and one that was allowed to receive infusions of cash from abroad.
Nettanyahu also worked with Hamas to increase work permits for laborers from Gaza while
For years, the various governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu
took an approach that divided power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank —
bringing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to his knees while
making moves that propped up the Hamas terror group.
The idea was to prevent Abbas — or anyone else in the Palestinian Authority’s West Bank government — from advancing toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Thus, amid this bid to impair Abbas, Hamas was upgraded from a mere terror group to an organization with which Israel held indirect negotiations via Egypt, and one that was allowed to receive infusions of cash from abroad.
Schneider added
Additionally, since 2014, Netanyahu-led governments have practically turned a blind eye to the incendiary balloons and rocket fire from Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israel has allowed suitcases holding millions in Qatari cash to enter Gaza through its crossings since 2018, in order to maintain its fragile ceasefire with the Hamas rulers of the Strip.
Most of the time, Israeli policy was to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset. Far-right MK Bezalel Smotrich, now the finance minister in the hardline government and leader of the Religious Zionism party, said so himself in 2015.
According to various reports, Netanyahu made a similar point at a Likud faction meeting in early 2019, when he was quoted as saying that those who oppose a Palestinian state should support the transfer of funds to Gaza, because maintaining the separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state....
Bolstered by this policy, Hamas grew stronger and stronger until Saturday, Israel’s “Pearl Harbor,” the bloodiest day in its history — when terrorists crossed the border, slaughtered hundreds of Israelis and kidnapped an unknown number under the cover of thousands of rockets fired at towns throughout the country’s south and center.
The country has known attacks and wars, but never on such a
scale in a single morning.
One thing is clear: The concept of indirectly strengthening Hamas — while tolerating sporadic attacks and minor military operations every few years — went up in smoke Saturday.
Netanyahu knew, or should have known, what might have been coming because, as Schneider noted
Just a few days ago, Assaf Pozilov, a reporter for the Kan public broadcaster, tweeted the following: “The Islamic Jihad organization has started a noisy exercise very close to the border, in which they practiced launching missiles, breaking into Israel and kidnapping soldiers"...
Hamas became stronger and used the auspices of peace that Israelis so longed for as cover for its training, and hundreds of Israelis have paid with their lives for this massive omission.
The terror inflicted on the civilian population in Israel is so enormous that the wounds from it will not heal for years, a challenge compounded by the dozens abducted into Gaza.
The columnist was wrong about one thing, though. She maintained "judging by the way Netanyahu has managed Gaza in the last 13 years, it is not certain that there will be a clear policy going forward."
The Prime Minister has been very clear about his policy over the past 31+ months. It has been a disastrous on. Investigating the flotilla fiasco and punishing individuals responsible for misbehavior would be a small, yet significant, step in the right direction.
Nonetheseless, as writer, author, and foreign policy analyst Robert Kagan wrote this past week
The Iran war may end up as the single most devastating blow to Israel’s security in its brief history. On the present trajectory, Iran will emerge from the conflict many times stronger and more influential than it was before the war. It will exercise leverage with dozens of the richest nations in the world, all of which will have an acute interest in keeping Iran happy. They will be unlikely to take Israel’s side in any conflict that it has with Tehran or with its proxies in Lebanon and Gaza, because Iran will have the means to punish them if they do. Israel will emerge more isolated than it has been at any time in its history—and not least from its only reliable protector, the United States. When Trump turns his back on Israel, as he must do to implement this policy, MAGA will gladly follow. The bipartisan anti-Israel consensus in the United States will grow and harden.
Netanyahu denounced Ben-Gvir for actions "not in line with the values and norms of the State of Israel." treated the flotilla activists is not in line with the values and norms of the State of Israel." The Foreign Minister said of the National Security Minister "you are not the face of Israel." Regrettably, under this coalition government, Israel's security has been weakened and its values and "face" severely degraded.
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