Israeli political and military analysts accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being responsible for the explosion of the situation in the West Bank and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and warned that Israel – according to Netanyahu’s plan – would be directly responsible for the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank.
Ram Ben-Barak, a member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, said the prime minister had sided with Defense Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and was “causing a third intifada in the West Bank because he does not confront Jewish terrorism” and (lets them) enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque to pray there.
Kelly Cohen, a political correspondent for Kan 11, referred to what she described as a stern warning by Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar – in a cabinet discussion on the Al-Aqsa Mosque incidents – in which he warned ministers – especially Ben-Gvir – about the changes he is leading at Al-Aqsa Mosque, whether approved or not.
The head of the Shin Bet told the prime minister, “What is happening in Al-Aqsa Mosque unites all fronts, and may lead to an uprising in the street, which is something that 10 months of war did not do.”
Nir Dvori, the military affairs correspondent for Channel 12, points out that what worries the Shin Bet in the West Bank is the return of what he called a new-old phenomenon, “suicide bombers,” referring to the return of martyrdom operations.
For his part, Udi Segal, a political program presenter on Channel 13, accused the Netanyahu government of threatening the Zionist project, and stressed that “after 10 months of war on Gaza, without acknowledging its responsibility, with rockets being fired from Lebanon, gunfire in Gaza, and escalating operations in the West Bank, the government is rushing toward the greatest danger, which is the destruction of the Zionist project.”
He added that “the prime minister is allowing the economically unsuccessful but politically very successful finance minister to implement his plan to gradually crush and strangle the Palestinian Authority, and withdraw the powers of the army that has had sovereignty in the West Bank since its occupation in 1967.” He considered that if these measures are not stopped, Israel will be, according to international law and in the eyes of the entire world, directly responsible for about 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank.
The Israeli journalist believed that Netanyahu, who made the Philadelphi Corridor a strategic issue, did not eliminate the weak possibility of reaching a prisoner exchange deal, but rather the political meaning of his statements about the corridor means “cancelling the disengagement plan and restoring control over more than two million Palestinians in Gaza so that Israel would be responsible for them.”
He said, “Israel will be directly responsible for 5 million Palestinians. Between the river and the sea in the land of Israel there will be 5 million Palestinians without legal status, and about 2 million Arab citizens of Israel, a large part of whom have Palestinian affiliation, compared to 8 million Jews… that is, almost a demographic parity.” The same speaker considered that what is happening is being done in secret and under the auspices of war, and is the most dangerous thing for Israel since its establishment.
On the other hand, the Israeli media mentioned in its discussions that Netanyahu is being subjected to continuous attacks by the prisoners’ families who accuse him of thwarting the exchange deal.