Israeli accusations against Netanyahu of sacrificing prisoners to save his government | Politics

Occupied Jerusalem Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found himself in an internal crisis after the occupation army announced that it had found the bodies of 6 Israeli prisoners who were captured alive during the Battle of “Al-Aqsa Flood.” Some of them were supposed to be released if a new exchange deal was reached with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Unlike before, when the prime minister would rush to hold a press conference and brag and compete with the security establishment and the military level about the success in finding the prisoners, even if they were dead, Netanyahu remained silent for hours.

Faced with unprecedented criticism from the opposition camp headed by Yair Lapid, the head of the “National Camp”, Benny Gantz, and even from sources in the Likud party, he was forced to issue a video in which he apologized to the families of the kidnapped for not returning them to the country while they were alive.

civil disobedience

Popular anger and resentment against Netanyahu and his government has escalated with the revelation of the Israeli army’s initial assessment, which states that “the six kidnapped individuals were killed 24 to 48 hours before Israeli forces found them inside a tunnel in Rafah, about a kilometer from where the kidnapped Kayed Farhan al-Qadi was found.”

Amid these developments and the revelation of information about the army’s initial assessment, which revealed the military failure and failure to search for the prisoners and return them alive, calls were raised by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak for civil disobedience, paralyzing the economy, and a strike by the local government, in addition to expanding the scope of protests to include all parts of the country.

Netanyahu was severely criticized for his refusal to move forward with a prisoner exchange deal, and his deliberate addition of more impossible terms and conditions. Political circles and the Israeli Prisoners’ Families Forum accused him of sacrificing the kidnapped in order to save his government, which are readings that were agreed upon by analysts and politicians in Israel.

Damage to the deal

Analysts’ readings unanimously agreed that the six kidnapped and murdered soldiers were the price Israel was paying for Netanyahu’s evasion and refusal to reach a swap deal, a temporary ceasefire, and insistence on maintaining the presence of Israeli army forces on the Philadelphi Corridor.

Maariv’s military correspondent, Avi Ashkenazi, warned of a scenario in which more bodies of the kidnapped would be found inside the Gaza tunnels, saying, “Yesterday there were six, and tomorrow there will be six more. The public must understand that the stupidity of insisting on the Philadelphi route has a price.”

The military correspondent believes that the price is the lives of the kidnapped and their sacrifice, pointing out that all the security services have made it clear to the members of the Security and Political Affairs Cabinet that there is no point in insisting on the army remaining on this axis.

Ashkenazi pointed out that insisting on this condition in the negotiations will only harm the exchange deal, a position expressed by Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who stated that insisting on the Philadelphi axis harms the deal to release the kidnapped soldiers.

Criticism of Netanyahu

Israeli news anchor and author Amnon Levy was even more critical of Netanyahu, saying in an article on the Yedioth Ahronoth website, “The truth must be told: the gun that fired the shots belonged to Hamas, but the one who made the killing possible was Netanyahu, who preferred other goals to the lives of the kidnapped.”

“Netanyahu left the kidnapped to die. After all, they were still alive until last week, according to the assessment of the IDF spokesman. They remained in the death tunnels for almost a year, and managed to survive the terror, hunger, and fear, until death came to them, due to Netanyahu’s procrastination and evasion,” he added.

He explained that the Israeli Prime Minister, who preferred other goals over the lives of the kidnapped, is still telling the Israelis stories about the “absolute victory” that he claims is still within reach, pledging that the Israeli army alone will release the kidnapped, that a settlement with Hamas is forbidden, and insisting on endless war.

Levy believes that Netanyahu, who invented the Philadelphi Corridor only so that a settlement would not be reached that would guarantee the release of the kidnapped soldiers while they were alive, continues his efforts to save his government, even if it is at the expense of Israel’s future and security, saying that he “is making concessions to the extreme right to ensure the survival of his government, and he is not willing to compromise and make concessions to save the lives of the kidnapped soldiers.”

Popular pressure

The same approach was adopted by the political affairs analyst at the Walla website, Tal Shilo, who directed harsh criticism at Netanyahu and his management of the prisoner exchange deal negotiations file, and his insistence on fighting and promoting that military pressure is the only guarantee and sufficiency to return the kidnapped Israelis while they are alive.

Under the title “The opposite, Netanyahu, the opposite: Military pressure does not bring back the kidnapped, but kills them,” Shilo wrote an article in which she reviewed the repercussions of the “cabinet” vote to keep Israeli forces on the Philadelphi corridor, saying that “in the last 48 hours and up until the news of the bodies being recovered, we finally became certain that Netanyahu simply does not want a swap deal and sacrificed the kidnapped to save his government.”

She believes that finding the bodies of the six kidnapped soldiers inside a tunnel reflects another fact, which is that “Netanyahu does not intend to withdraw from Gaza in the next decade, and is preparing for a permanent Israeli military presence in the Strip.”

She explained that Netanyahu refrains from telling the Israeli public this truth and distances himself from dealing with the security, political and economic repercussions resulting from such a decision, and refuses to explicitly acknowledge abandoning the kidnapped soldiers in favor of continuing the war, contrary to the position of the security establishment, which believes that without a swap deal, Israel will drown in Gaza.

In this regard, the political analyst ruled out that the killing of the six hostages would contribute to any rift within the far-right government, saying, “Those who thought that the black morning would provoke self-examination in the government may be disappointed. It has now become clear that only popular pressure, not military pressure, can bring the hostages back home.”