Called after the Hamas attack on October 7 to form the war cabinet, former Minister of Defense and former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz once again ostensibly displays his opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu. While the Prime Minister wants to wait until the end of the war against Hamas in Gaza to open a commission of inquiry to assess responsibility for the failure of October 7, Benny Gantz called on Thursday to create this commission “as soon as possible “.
“We must assume our responsibilities and act to ensure that this does not happen again,” he said, adding that “the only way to achieve this is to set up a state commission of inquiry as soon as possible.” possible”. Benny Gantz then announced that he would officially request its creation in a resolution.
Benjamin Netanyahu has already repeatedly refuted the idea of his government’s responsibility for the unpreparedness and lack of anticipation in the Hamas attack on October 7.
As the Times of Israel reported, the Israeli military revealed Thursday that the prime minister had received “four warning letters” from military intelligence during 2023 showing that “enemies of Israel,” including Hamas, were attentive to the “damage” of justice reform on the cohesion of Israeli society and its army. “There is no warning in any of the documents about Hamas’s intentions to attack Israel from Gaza,” Benyamin Netanyahu’s office reacted immediately in a long statement.
Benny Gantz’s announcement also comes after the broadcast of violent images in the Israeli media, showing the capture of five soldiers on October 7 by Hamas fighters, and which sparked a lot of comments in Israel, to the point of motivating the Israeli war cabinet to announce a green light for the continuation of negotiations for the release of hostages. “We all saw the difficult video of the kidnapping of Nahal Oz,” Benny Gantz mentioned in his statement. “There is no doubt: the period and events leading up to October 7, and the continuation of the campaign since then, constitute a national upheaval from which we must learn lessons,” he said. .
The former chief of staff, a centrist figure in the war cabinet, had already opposed Benjamin Netanyahu on May 18. Regarding a possible agreement on the ongoing war, he threatened to resign from the war cabinet if “an action plan” was not adopted “by June 8.” This plan notably provided for “the establishment of an American-European-Arab-Palestinian administration” excluding Hamas as well as the current head of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.
“The conditions set by Benny Gantz are rehashed remarks whose meaning is clear: the end of the war and the defeat of Israel,” responded Benjamin Netanyahu, also attacked by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, from the opposite political side. The latter had threatened in April to shatter the government coalition if a truce was accepted against Hamas by Israel.