A number of officials and analysts hosted by Israeli channels discussed the issue of the US administration’s refusal to send a shipment of missiles to Israel, in addition to highlighting the attack by families of Israeli detainees on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of obstructing the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal and ending the war.
Yaron Abraham, political affairs correspondent on Channel 12, spoke about the visit of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to Washington, and said that it was initially aimed at resolving the missile issue, before Netanyahu’s video in which he attacked the American administration.
He pointed out that an American official told him that he was not sure that the Americans might concede now regarding the missile shipment, “because they might appear as those who surrendered to what was stated in Netanyahu’s video.”
Netanyahu had criticized the administration of US President Joe Biden in a video recording, and stated that it was unreasonable for Washington to withhold weapons and ammunition from Israel during the past months.
For his part, Major General Giora Eiland, a former head of the Israeli National Security Council, said that Gallant’s visit to Washington comes in light of the Americans’ questions regarding the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, indicating that this may affect decision-making by the Americans.
Regarding the deal negotiations between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation, Or Heller, military affairs correspondent for Channel 13, said, “Everything related to the deal negotiations is stuck and stalling, and it can be said that there is no hope for any breakthrough.”
Channel 12 broadcast footage from a press conference by the families of Israeli detainees held by the resistance, where they attacked Netanyahu and considered him an obstacle to concluding a prisoner exchange deal and ending the war in the Gaza Strip.
Ella Metzger, the wife of an Israeli prisoner in Gaza, said: “Time passes and the deal is stuck, and the prisoners are dying in captivity, because Netanyahu does not want a deal. The blood of the kidnapped people stains the hands of Netanyahu and his government..”
For her part, Yifaan Calderon, a relative of an Israeli prisoner, commented, “Yesterday the news channels said that Israel would announce that the military apparatus of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) had been defeated. How can their defeat be announced if the kidnapped people are still in their hands?” She accused Netanyahu of being an obstacle to the deal.