Knesset Turns Raucous Over Katz Appointment

Members of the Israeli opposition and the ruling right-wing coalition government exchanged insults and curses, Thursday, during the swearing-in ceremony of Yisrael Katz as Minister of Defense, succeeding Yoav Galant, who was dismissed by the occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Knesset approved new government appointments in a rare session as Yisrael Katz was appointed Minister of Defense, and Gideon Sa’ar as Foreign Minister. This is in addition to the appointment of Ze’ev Elkin as a minister.

According to the English Jerusalem Post, the session witnessed the exchange of insults and attacks between Knesset members from all parties.

Ultimately, opposition members left the Knesset hall in protest of Galant’s dismissal, which was met with severe criticism and protests in Israel.

During Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s speech against the opposition, opposition leader Yair Lapid shouted at him, describing him as “poison, and a draft evader.”

While Likud MK Tali Gottlieb attacked Galant on social media after news of his dismissal broke out, she supported Netanyahu’s choice.

In total, 58 MKs supported the new appointments without protest, while the opposition walked out of the session in protest at Galant’s dismissal.

Netanyahu justified Galant’s dismissal, Tuesday, by citing a breakdown in trust, while his statements were said to be shaky and weak.

Galant has repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution to secure the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and has also called for the conscription of ultra-Orthodox men into military service.

This has angered Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox and far-right coalition partners, on whom he relies.

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Katz: Hardened Loyalist in Netanyahu’s Pocket

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in the middle of a war slaughter on Gaza and south Lebanon. This is regarded as an unprecedented move especially during wartime.

He cites a “crisis of trust,” between the two men that has brewing long before the war after 7 October, 2023.

Netanyahu finally took the plunge and appointed in his place, Israel Katz amid public outrage within the occupation state and increasing involvement in war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon.

Israel Katz has stepped up and previously served as Israel’s Foreign Minister and was formerly criticized as being weak and ineffectual. But maybe this is what Netanyahu wants for Katz is already a hardened “Bibi supporters” who can obviously be controlled.

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‘Generals’ Plan’ in Gaza Maybe Stopped If Hezbollah Pressure Hikes

Military Dr. Nidal Abu Zeid said the Israel occupation is trying to displace and strangle northern Gaza with fire and prevent the entry of any aid, in an attempt to implement what is known as the “generals’ plan” that has so far failed.

He noted that the Israeli army is now trying to implement such a plan by brute military force but the resistance groups have yet succeeded to thwart this pernicious project.

 Abu Zeid added to Jordan24 that the current ongoing battles in Gaza are linked to the military operations Hezbollah fighters are waging in southern Lebanon.

He pointed out the missile barrages launched by the party, Wednesday, were the largest, with 200 missiles in one day, according to Israeli sources. This is in addition to Hezbollah’s success in penetrating the early warning and reconnaissance systems in the north of the occupied territories through its “Hudhud”.

Abu Zeid confirms that Hezbollah’s operations and activities are not random, but disciplined with  sequential movements in a clear plan that begins with the unconventional defense of the forefront of the battle zone supported by missile barrages and reliance on the principles of proportionality and gradualism.

Therefore he added, we see Haifa being bombed whenever the southern suburb is bombed, with a gradual increase in type, quantity and range.

Regarding the Israeli response to Iran, Abu Zeid said that the indicators are escalating as the Israeli response approaches, the latest of which is Biden’s phone call to Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Galant’s visit to the Military Intelligence Division. These are indications that the integration of the intelligence position is awaiting a green light for implementation.

The “generals’ plan” is based on besieging the northern Gaza Strip, stopping humanitarian aid, and evacuating the population with the aim of “forcing all Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip to leave and turning the north into a closed military zone.”

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Wanted For Genocide

According to international law, genocide is defined as acts aimed at destroying a group, including killing, causing serious physical and psychological harm, and preventing births—experiences that the Palestinians in Gaza have faced for a year.

Despite the existence of international agreements mandating the protection of civilians during conflicts, the Israeli occupation continues to commit brutal crimes against Palestinian civilians with American and Western impunity.

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Yossi Hadar: ‘Netanyahu Lost The War to Hamas’

Israeli political analyst Yossi Hadar, in the Jewish Maariv newspaper, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost the war to Hamas, and instead of signing a prisoner exchange deal with it, he is trying to drag Israel into a war of attrition that will keep him in power.

The analyst harshly criticized Netanyahu for trying to dismiss Defense Minister Yoav Galant, describing it as a political move to preserve his position, ignoring the military failures in the Hamas attack of 7 October, 2023.

The writer began his article by referring to the operation attributed to Israel of blowing up the wireless devices in Lebanon and Syria, which resulted in the death of 32 Lebanese and the wounding of hundreds, according to the latest statistics.

“If the attribution of this operation to Israel is correct, it reveals another aspect of Israel’s enormous military capabilities, but at the same time it could bring us closer to a real war with Hezbollah, while the war in Gaza continues, the Houthis attacks on Israel, and Iranian threats continue, with operations growing in the West Bank and inside Israel,” he added.

The analyst accused Netanyahu of deliberately prolonging the war for political reasons, ignoring the serious security implications for Israel, and described him as the most failed prime minister in Israel, and that he “is leading an approach of political baseness and exhaustion and implementing a Machiavellian plot aimed at tightening control over the country by pushing the public to despair.”

Hadar stressed that Netanyahu’s escalation in the north is “the way Netanyahu seeks to maintain his rule, not in order to do something beneficial for the citizens of Israel, but only for his personal and political interests, just so he can continue to exhaust us.”

Political Maneuver

The writer then went on to assert that Netanyahu’s attempt to dismiss Galant is part of a political maneuver aimed at strengthening his power, rather than addressing the military failures that were evident in the 7 October attack, which puts Israel in a weak position in the face of the growing threats.

“All this does not prevent Netanyahu from hatching a plot to overthrow the defense minister at this critical moment for the security of the state, and in the midst of a war that could expand,” he said.

He explained Netanyahu’s move as a bid to replace his defense minister because of his opposition to the Haredi conscription law that the Orthodox parties insist on, in exchange for appointing the head of the Right-wing Israel Party, Gideon Sa’ar, because the latter will pass this law, referring to Sa’ar’s volatility, who was previously quoted as saying, “If you want Netanyahu as prime minister, don’t vote for me.”

Hadar also denied Netanyahu’s followers’ marketing of the reason for Galant’s dismissal as a “weak leftist,” saying that Galant himself offered, just four days after the 7 October attack, to attack Hezbollah as a preemptive move, but Netanyahu refused, in a state of panic over the events.

The writer recalled that Netanyahu is the one who divided Israel by leading “an attempted coup against the judicial system that he created before 7 October,” and he is the one who brought upon Israel “the catastrophe of 7 October,” and now he is dragging another catastrophe by dragging Israel into a war of attrition.

He said, “Instead of waging a short and intense war, he chose a dangerous and failed war of attrition that goes against all strategic logic, and dragged Israel into the worst state it has been since its founding, because what matters is only the logic of political survival,” according to Jordan24.

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