National Unity chairman Benny Gantz said during a press conference in Sderot on Wednesday that Hamas was militarily defeated following the IDF‘s operation in Gaza.
„From a military point of view – Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eliminated or in hiding. Its abilities are cut off, and we will continue to strike what remains.
However, “from a military point of view – Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eliminated or in hiding” and its capabilities “crippled,” he continues, stating that “victory will come step by step” and that Israel “will not stop. We will enter Rafah. We will return to Khan Younis. And we will operate in Gaza. Wherever there are terrorist targets – the IDF will be there.”
(06.03.2024)
Israel needs to start getting used to the number 10. That’s the number of years Israel will probably stay in the Gaza Strip, according to the current thinking emanating from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
The estimates are that it will take one or two years for the first stage of the war — eradicating Hamas — to be complete, and another eight years for an alternate government to stabilize, if it does at all.
(28.01.2024)
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz tells residents of the evacuated southern communities that the war against Hamas could last “a year, a decade, or even an entire generation,” and acknowledges the urgent need to ensure the release of the hostages still held in Gaza, Channel 12 reports.
Israel’s war on Hamas could last an “10 years, or even entire generation,” war cabinet minister Benny Gantz reportedly told residents of evacuated communities in southern Israel.
“Complete removal of the threat will take time,” Israel’s Channel 12 reported Mr Gantz, who previously served as deputy prime minister and defence minister, as saying on Sunday.
With the government’s popularity plummeting, a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nevertheless garnered only 18 votes in the Knesset on Monday evening, falling far short of the necessary majority to pass in the 120-strong Knesset plenum.
The vote was boycotted by the coalition, whose heads stated earlier in the day that they would “not take part in political theater during wartime.”
On Tuesday, Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant told the Israeli Parliament’s Defense Committee that the country is fighting on seven fronts and has responded to attacks in six of them thus far. In addition to the Gaza Strip, where nearly 21,000 people have already died, and the West Bank — which Gallant referred to as “Judea and Samaria” and where incursions occur almost daily — the minister said that hostilities have spread to Iran, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. “I’m saying it here explicitly,” Gallant warned during his speech. “Anyone who acts against us as a potential target will not be immune.”
The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum says that at its request, war cabinet ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot will meet with representatives of the families at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square at 8 p.m.
Gantz is then slated to take part in a joint press conference at 9 p.m. with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
(11.10.2023)
(today)
Such a nightmarish spectacle had never been seen in Israel: The president, the prime minister, the chairman of the opposition and the head of the country‘s largest labor federation were trading proposals on the issue of judicial review as if they were cryptocurrency.
(17.06.2023)
ומי שהצביעו עבור קארין אלהרר ופנינה תמנו שטה היו גם חברי הכנסת של ש״ס, בהוראה של דרעי ואולי אף דרעי בעצמו, ובידיעת נתניהו, גנץ ולפיד.
האינטרס של לפיד וגנץ היה להראות ״הישג״ בהצבעה בכנסת, האינטרס של נתניהו היה להקפיא את ההפיכה המשטרית על מנת להגיע לוושינגטון ולמסמס את המחאה, והאינטרס של דרעי היה להמשיך את השיחות בבית הנשיא על מנת לסלול את דרכו לממשלה.
נתניהו ודרעי הבינו שללא נציגת האופוזיציה בוועדה תקום סערה ציבורית והכל יתפוצץ. לכן פעלו כפי שפעלו בתיאום מלא עם גנץ ולפיד.
ולכן גם ההודעה של גנץ ולפיד, שהם משהים את השיחות עד לבחירת נציג הקואליציה לוועדה וכינוסה, גם האמירה הזאת היא עבודה בעיניים, הכל בלוף.
זה פשוט המשך שיתוף פעולה, וחלק מאותה הסכמה של גנץ ולפיד להכשיר את דרעי ולהכניסו לממשלה.
גנץ ולפיד הרימו דגל לבן, ועשו מכירת חיסול של הציבור הליברלי במדינת ישראל.
לצערי זו האמת מאחורי השיחות בבית הנשיא וההצבעה בכנסת ביום רביעי.
(17.06.2023)
“The picture that arises is that everything that happened on Wednesday in the Knesset vote for the Judicial Appointments Committee was one big show, behind which there was a four-way deal between [National Unity Party chief Benny] Gantz and [Opposition leader Yair] Lapid on one side and Netanyahu and [Shas leader Arye] Dery on the other,” Lieberman posted on his Twitter account.
“The interest of Lapid and Gantz is to show ‘an achievement’ in the Knesset vote, Netanyahu’s interest is to freeze the [judicial overhaul] so he can go to Washington and soften the protests, and Dery’s interest is to continue the talks at the President’s Residence to pave his path back to the government,” he wrote.
(Jun 12, 2023)
A compromise agreement between coalition and opposition lawmakers over the government‘s judicial overhaul is expected to be reached as early as Wednesday, opposition MK Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday.
According to the Yisrael Beitenu chairman, the agreement will come after the opposition candidate for the Judicial Appointments Committee, MK Karine Elharrar of Yesh Atid, is elected to the position.
Lapid made an appearance at the Tel Aviv protest on Saturday night. At Kaplan Street, a demonstrator yelled at him, „No negotiations!“ To which he responded, „We‘re not there.“ Although he and Gantz have agreed to delay the negotiations with the coalition, protesters are demanding that they shelve them completely.
Former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni also gave a speech at that rally, saying that the government is „already advancing fascist decisions and legislation that will change the face of Israel forever. Decisions and legislation that erase democracy, bring about religious supremacy over secular people, Jewish supremacy over Arabs and messianic supremacy over judges.“
When the negotiation‘s deadline is reached, the host of laws which seek to alter the nature of Basic Laws and allow the government to easily pass semi-constitutional laws will be passed as a single package of legislation, sources with knowledge of the emerging deal said.
Moreover, while decisions by the full cabinet would have immunity from being overturned because the court deemed them unreasonable, decisions by individual ministers would not enjoy such immunity.
Opposition leaders said during the talks that they viewed this as a sensible compromise.
Note how important➡️
it is for them to have peace and quiet so they can work on passing the budget.
What would Netanyahu and Levin do without the peace and quiet afforded to them by the fake ‚dialogue‘ at the President‘s residence that Gantz and Lapid are providing them with?
Preferred PM
?Netanyahu [Likud]: 47% (+5)
?Gantz [NUP]: 35% (-3)
?Lapid [YA]: 17% (+3)
?Gantz: 46% (-2)
?Netanyahu: 44% (+2)
?Netanyahu: 47% (+3)
?Lapid: 36% (+4)
Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, said that if no agreement is reached with the opposition, some of the judicial overhaul legislation would be passed by the Knesset during its current session
(04.05.2023)
Er muss und er will Premierminister bleiben. Er könnte leicht einen Deal eingehen: Die Opposition will ihn vielleicht nicht im Gefängnis sehen, ihn aber als Premier weghaben. Netanjahu will beides: einen Deal und an der Macht bleiben. Das geht nicht.
Member of the opposition Avigdor Lieberman spoke at a demonstration in Be‘er Sheva and called on opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid to „immediately“ cease negotiations with the Netanyahu government.
„Any compromise is a self-goal for the opposition and a reinforcement of Netanyahu‘s messianic government. The continuation of these meetings is tantamount to legitimizing the people who crushed the country within three months and continue to crush it even more intensely every day,“ Lieberman said.
Negotiating teams will meet next week at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem to begin dialogue over the laws of the proposed judicial overhaul. This will be the first time the sides will discuss the details of the laws submitted to the Knesset, with previous meetings having focused on technical issues.
Several speakers at the protests called on opposition leaders to halt the negotiations, among them former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, who addressed the central demonstration in Tel Aviv.
The day after the Channel 13 poll appeared, Netanyahu formally revoked his catastrophic dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
A mere 25 percent of those polled said they wanted the current government to continue leading the country. Thirty-three percent said they support a unity government instead, and another 33 percent prefer another round of elections. Among Likud voters, just 43 percent want the government‘s term to continue, 35 percent prefer a unity government and 10 percent want a return to the polls.
(October 25, 2022)
Calling for the International Criminal Court to open a new investigation into possible war crimes by Israeli military forces in Gaza in August, Amnesty International on Tuesday said the court must also include Israel‘s illegal apartheid policies against the Occupied Palestinian Territories in its probe.
The organization‘s call centered on the three-day offensive launched by Israel between August 5-8 in the Gaza Strip, with advocates saying its research suggests three specific attacks could amount to war crimes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Haaretz Democracy Conference on Monday, saying that Moscow’s military cooperation with Tehran will likely result in Russia assisting Iran with the development of its nuclear program.
In the prerecorded video message, the Ukrainian leader said that Iran’s sale of suicide drones and provision of military instructors to Russian forces operating in his country would not have been possible without Israel’s decision to stay neutral in the conflict.
Murphy, who chairs the Senate subcommittee dedicated to the Middle East, noted that Israel is not the only country that possesses the Iron Dome missile defense system that could potentially help Ukraine.
“The United States, in fact, could move toward transferring some of our Iron Dome capabilities to Ukraine, as well. I think Israel can do much more here,” the Connecticut senator said, adding: “These drones are absolutely devastating when they hit civilian areas“.
(12.10.2022)
Israel’s Iron Dome air defense, which boasts a 90 percent success rate against rockets fired against it, will stay out of Ukraine’s reach, experts said, as Jerusalem seeks to maintain strategic relations with Russia in Syria and other hot spots.
Israel’s Defense and Foreign ministries and the prime minister’s office uniformly declined to comment Wednesday on long-standing requests from Ukraine and its supporters for it to give, sell or loan Ukraine the system, including calls made since Monday’s barrage.
Hadash-Ta’al commented on the Central Election Commission’s decision to disqualify Balad’s candidacy for the 25th Knesset. “The decision to disqualify Balad is an unfortunate decision. [Benny] Gantz, [Yair] Lapid and [Meirav] Michaeli proved that they are right-wing in disguise. Despite the anger of the racists who want to keep the Arabs away from the polling stations, on election day we all flock to the polling stations.”
Balad and several of its lawmakers have been disqualified by past elections panels, and have so far won every appeal to the High Court to be reinstated. The party is expected to make a similar appeal to return to November’s contest following Thursday’s disqualification.
Earlier on Thursday, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara released a letter to the committee stating that there was no basis for disqualifying either Balad or the Islamist Ra’am party. The panel ultimately cleared Ra’am’s path to the ballot box, dismissing petitions that alleged the party supported terrorist organizations.
(29.09.2022)
Despite appeals filed alleging that Ra‘am „supports terrorism,“ the vote to allow their running passed 14-0, with representatives from Likud, the Religious Zionist Party, Yesh Atid, and Labor not present.
Israel‘s Defense Minister Benny Gantz of the National Unity Party ruled on Thursday that all of his party representatives on the election committee will vote to disqualify Balad from running for parliament.
We are deeply concerned by the raids which took place in the morning of 18 August, as part of a worrying reduction of space for civil society in the oPT. These actions are not acceptable.
The further reduction of civil space in the oPT remains a source of concern. We stand firm with NGOs to uphold the right to freedom of expression and association in the oPT.
A free and strong civil society is indispensable for promoting democratic values and for a two state solution. As we stated on 12 July, no substantial information was received from Israel that would justify reviewing our policy towards the six Palestinian NGOs on the basis of the Israeli decision to designate these NGOs as ‘terrorist organisations’. Should convincing evidence be made available to the contrary, we would act accordingly.
In October, Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed an order declaring Addameer, Al-Haq, the Bisan Center for Research & Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Palestinian Women‘s Committees and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees as terrorist organizations. The Defense Ministry claims that they are part of a funding network operated by the largely-defunct Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a charge that all six groups deny.
Israels ehemaliger Armeechef Gadi Eisenkot will mit Blick auf die anstehende Parlamentswahl der neuen Partei von Verteidigungsminister Benny Gantz beitreten. Er werde sich der neuen Mitte-rechts-Partei Hamahane Hamamlachti (Nationale Einheitspartei) von Gantz und Justizminister Gideon Saar anschließen, erklärte Eisenkot heute.
6:45 pm IDT
Forty-nine Palestinians have been killed as a result of the latest military escalation between Israel and Islamic Jihad, which lasted three days. They include five girls, 11 boys and four women.
Thirty were killed during Israeli strikes. Of those, 17 were civilians, among them three girls, a boy and four women. Botched launches of Palestinian rockets killed 19 non-combatants, including 12 children.
Benny Gantz, a retired Israeli army general and the country‘s minister of defense, told a local media outlet yesterday that a New Yorker report which said Netanyahu encouraged U.S. action against Iran was likely „not what happened.“
„I don‘t know of this story and I assume this is not what happened,“ Gantz said in an interview, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Gantz is expecting Lapid to be the silver platter on which his government will rest. He’s expecting Lapid to bow out gracefully a fourth time.
First, Lapid gave up on leading Kahol Lavan (back when it was a joint ticket). Then he gave up on a rotation as prime minister should it win. Then he let Naftali Bennett be the first prime minister in the outgoing rotation government. As far as Gantz and his supporters are concerned, that’s Lapid’s purpose – to be an indefatigable capitulator, the person who provides springboards and makes governments for others.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party and Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope Party are merging, the two announced in a press conference on Sunday night.
“Today we are laying the foundation stone of the next government,” Gantz said. “The edges and extremes have set the tone for too long, and the Israeli center remained without a voice.”
Israeli military sources say …
(Jul 1, 2022)
The second consensus – which is both more important and more interesting – is that absolutely no one in Likud, from the most junior member to the most senior, failed to cite Kahol Lavan Chairman Benny Gantz, the current defense minister, as the person they are counting on to complete the tally of 61 Knesset seats that Netanyahu needs to form a government.
Speaking with Russian state television, Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov noted Defense Ministry Benny Gantz’s announcement a day earlier that Israel will provide Ukraine with helmets and flak jackets.
Gantz’s office stressed the equipment will go to Ukrainian civilian rescue and medical forces, not the military.
With tensions running high in the aftermath of the tanker attack off Oman, the defense minister says strikes in Lebanon were ‚warning shots‘