Benjamin Netanyahu Archives - Page 18 of 22

Israeli Army: No Deal Puts Hostages’ Lives in Great Danger

CrossFireArabia
September 4, 2024

The Israeli army warned the Benjamin Netanyahu government that without reaching an agreement with Hamas, any large-scale military operation in Gaza would endanger the lives of the Israeli hostages, Hebrew media reported, Tuesday.

Israel holds at least 9,500 Palestinian prisoners in its jails whilest it is estimated 101 Israeli hostages are being held in Gaza. The Palestinian group Hamas announced that dozens of these hostages have been killed due to indiscriminate Israeli air strikes all over the Gaza Strip.

“The IDF (army) made it clear to the political echelons [government] that without a deal [with Hamas], it must be understood that any extensive ground operation in the Gaza Strip has a meaning — risking the lives of abductees,” Yedioth Ahronoth reported according to Anadolu.

The Israeli newspaper cited an unnamed senior military official who said “the cabinet will have to decide whether it takes responsibility for the lives of the abductees.”

6 Israeli hostages

The report added the military has intensified its warnings to the government since discovering the bodies of six Israeli hostages in a tunnel in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza last Saturday.

The Netanyahu government is accusing Hamas for the killing of these hostages, while the movement maintain they were killed in an Israeli airstrike as part of the Israeli ongoing war in Gaza that literally decimated the enclave as 50,000 bombs were dropped on the territory according to Haaretz.

The deaths of the hostages have sparked a new wave of anger in Israel against Netanyahu, with daily protests taking place holding him personally responsible for their deaths and demanding that he makes a deal with Hamas to exchange the remaining hostages originally at 250.

For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have tried to reach an accord between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and a ceasefire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

But mediation efforts failed with Netanyahu frustrating every effort by the Israeli delegates to reach a deal with Hamas over the past 11 months or so. He monitored his team – who frequently travelled to Doha and Cairo to hitch a deal – to the minutest details and the delegates have not been allowed any leeway in the negotiations without returning to him first.

A key sticking point in the hostages/ceasfire talks is Netanyahu’s insistence on maintaining the Israeli military’s presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, a demilitarized zone along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Hamas on the other hand demands a complete withdrawal from the Palestinian territory and says no meaningful negotiations can take place if the Israeli military wants to stay there.

Philadelphi Corridor

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant agrees there should be a withdrawal for the sake of the hostages. He recently stated that Israel’s withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor during the first phase of a deal would not pose a security threat to his country.

But not so for Netanyahu. In a press conference Monday, he said that achieving the war goals that he set “requires maintaining the Philadelphi Corridor.” He emphasized Israel will never withdraw from the corridor.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza following an attack on 7 October, 2023 by Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

The onslaught resulted in more than 40,800 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and nearly 94,300 injuries, according to local health authorities in Gaza.

An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.

News

Netanyahu Looks For ‘Imaginary Victory’ in Gaza

CrossFireArabia
September 3, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking for an “imaginary victory” in Gaza that he has not succeeded in selling to his audience, the Palestinian resistance group Hamas said Monday.

Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, was commenting on a speech by Netanyahu during which he insisted on keeping the Gaza-Egypt border area known as the Philadelphi Corridor under the Israeli army’s control, claiming it is necessary for achieving the war on Gaza’s goals.

“Netanyahu’s statements are the speech of a desperate person who is looking for an imaginary victory that he has not succeeded in marketing to his audience after 10 months of his Nazi war against our people in the Gaza Strip,” Al-Rishq said.

"There is clearly tremendous Palestinian suffering, but there is no Israeli victory."

Former Israeli negotiator and president of the US/Middle East Project, Daniel Levy, says that Israel's goal for victory is defeating Hamas and that the "IDF has conspicuously failed" to do so. pic.twitter.com/OWoZfZ3tbv
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 19, 2024

He “confirms with his statements today [Monday] that he is the one obstructing the exchange deal and the cease-fire agreement,” he said.

He added that any delay in his “approval and commitment to what was reached on July 7 (in a cease-fire proposal) means putting the lives of more prisoners at risk,” referring to the recent deaths of six Israeli captives in Gaza, saying “Netanyahu bears responsibility for the lives and safety of the prisoners held by the resistance.”

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu reaffirmed his intention to maintain Israeli troops in the Philadelphi Corridor.

“If we withdraw, we won’t (be able to) return there — not for 42 days and not for 42 years,” Israel’s Channel 12 quoted him as saying at a Cabinet meeting.

He was referring to the first 42-day phase of a proposed Gaza cease-fire and hostage swap deal with Hamas.

Hamas says Netanyahu looking for 'imaginary victory' in Gaza
Israeli premier insists on keeping Philadelphi Corridor under army's control, claiming it is necessary for achieving goals of war#News #DailyNews #LiveNews #WorldNews #World pic.twitter.com/YuI8DBV85V
— Breaking News (@FastNews77) September 3, 2024

Netanyahu claimed that the Philadelphi Corridor, a demilitarized area on the border between Gaza and Egypt, is a “lifeline” for Hamas.

Contrary to his insistence on the Philadelphi Corridor, his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, called Sunday for the immediate convening of the Security Cabinet to reverse its decision to keep forces in the corridor.

Israel estimates that more than 100 hostages are still being held by Hamas in Gaza, some of whom are believed to have been already killed.

For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and a cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Hamas’s demands to stop the war.

Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip has killed nearly 40,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 94,200 others, according to local health authorities.

An ongoing blockade of the enclave has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide for its actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice according to Anadolu.

Analyses

West Bank: Ticking Bomb For Netanyahu

CrossFireArabia
August 29, 2024

Analysts believe that Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist government is trying to impose its strategy of Judaizing the entire West Bank and expelling the Palestinians from there. This is in conjunction with the extermination war – made with US support – it is waging against civilians in the Gaza Strip. Others however, say what the West Bank is experiencing is nothing but a side show that can be stopped if Hamas exits the scene.

The Israeli occupation forces have moved into the northern West Bank areas, Wednesday morning, killing more than 10 people and injuring 20 others which many consider a systematic policy to deal with the West Bank as one of the arenas of the current war.

For the second day, Israeli occupation forces continue their siege of Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin, obstructing the work of emergency medical crews. pic.twitter.com/R6v8hGTTqd
— Md.Majharul Islam (@majharul_m38317) August 29, 2024

Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Dr. Mustafa Barghouti says what is currently happening is a systematic extermination of Palestinians in the West Bank, which he said, is completely occupied by Israel.

In Al Jazeera’s “Gaza… What’s Next?” program Barghouti pointed out the occupation’s strategy has become crystal clear as Benjamin Netanyahu and his fascist government are trying to transfer the war in the Gaza Strip to the West Bank and started bombing Palestinians there – especially in the camps – with planes and drones.

He added what the occupation is doing against the Palestinians in the West Bank camps coincides with the killings carried out by the settlers to expand the Jewish settlements in a dangerous and diverse manner, including the pastoral colonial outposts by deploying settlers with sheep to control the largest possible area of land.

Barghouti believes Israel is trying to eradicate the resistance, uproot the Palestinians, Judaize the state, and displace the residents of Gaza and the West Bank together in a war that is fully supported by the United States.

West Bank differs from Gaza

In contrast, Kenneth Katzman, a senior researcher at the Soufan Institute for Strategic Studies and International Security, says Washington is trying to resolve the crisis in Gaza in a way that differs from the way it is handling the West Bank, “which is experiencing a state of turmoil accompanying the war in Gaza and can be contained if the fighting stops.”

Katzman said that the West Bank has a legitimate authority that cooperates with Israel, and that the current violence there is mainly caused by the war in Gaza, “which the Joe Biden administration is trying to exclude from the electoral race and from the American foreign policy that is based on establishing peace in the Middle East.”

The problem, however, as he said, is that the Biden administration “fully agrees with Netanyahu on the need to eradicate Hamas completely, so that the current war will be the last and new faces will take over the rule of the Strip.”

But Barghouti responds to this argument by saying that the Palestinian Authority does not control anything in the West Bank, as evidenced by the fact that all Israeli army operations are carried out in Area A, which is supposed to be subject to it under the Oslo Accords.

Barghouti said that the United States and Israel want practical authority in Gaza and do not accept any national government, as evidenced by the fact that they did not accept democracy when Hamas came to power in 2006 and caused the fall of the national government that included all Palestinian components.

6 Palestinians martyred by Israeli occupation fire in Tulkarm and Jenin
https://t.co/kjHtE6m9ZM
— SANAEnglishOfficial (@SANAEnOfficial) August 29, 2024

While Barghouti says that the Oslo Accords are dead because Israel has not implemented a single letter of it, Katzman says that the agreement is enforceable if Hamas is eliminated and the Authority becomes the sole representative of the Palestinians.

He added that “President Mahmoud Abbas does not resort to violence and therefore he can create a state of calm, although he is not ideal and has refused to hold elections for 20 years, in addition to being surrounded by suspicions of corruption.”

Israeli occupation forces partially destroy the Abu Bakr as-Siddiq Mosque in the al-Fara'a refugee camp in the occupied #WestBank pic.twitter.com/EAQamuc9pE
— Daniella Modos – Cutter -SEN (@DmodosCutter) August 29, 2024

But Barghouti responded that the late President Yasser Arafat, who signed the Oslo Accords, “did not take anything and they poisoned him when he refused to give up Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Washington, which talks about Abbas’s corruption, does not talk about Netanyahu’s corruption, who continues the war to escape from prison,” according to JO24.

News

Netanyahu is Leading Israel Into The Abyss – Ehud Olmert

CrossFireArabia
August 24, 2024

Ehud Olmert, former Israeli Prime Minister confirmed that Benjamin Netanyahu does not want to recover the Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, and that the ceasefire negotiations may collapse. He warned the current Israeli prime minister is leading Israel to the abyss and a comprehensive war in the Middle East.

In a recent Haaretz article Olmert added, the continuation of the war in the Gaza Strip and its expansion in the north with Hezbollah will increase the chances of a comprehensive regional war with other parties like the Yemeni armed forces, and other groups supported by Iran in Syria and Iraq joining in.

According to Israeli ex-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, "The Ben Gvirs and the Smotrichs" are "yearning" for an Iranian response, as massive as possible, that will lead to a regional war they could use for ethnic cleansing, to "force out all the Palestinians from the territories" pic.twitter.com/q2zyjmQuqK
— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) August 8, 2024

He said such a scenario would pose a real threat to Israel, and a step that will lead to the deaths of many soldiers and settlers. He noted this will cause serious damage to the physical infrastructure inside Israel and to a real deterioration in its international standing.

He pointed out Netanyahu must choose between abandoning his declared goal of “absolute victory” and continuing the war and expanding it into a comprehensive confrontation on multiple fronts without a reasonable timetable to end it. He added that Israel is approaching a comprehensive war in great strides, and this is what Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich want.

Olmert called on Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and Mossad chief David Barnea to jointly announce their resignations, as soon as Netanyahu thwarts negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza in the coming days.

"THEY ARE KILLERS, MURDERERS, TERRORISTS"

Ex- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says about Netanyahu and his Government:

"They are killers, they are murderers, they are terrorists." pic.twitter.com/3c7M9EFBg3
— Palestine and MENA Info Center (@PALMENA_IC) December 24, 2023

In a related context, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz said in its editorial that the prisoners that are being held in Gaza, now in their 11-month of captivity have “begun to slowly rot in Hamas tunnels, and have become secondary figures for Netanyahu.”

The newspaper pointed out that Netanyahu sometimes says that he is ready to negotiate, and other times he lengthens the Israeli delegation’s rope, and announces that he will be flexible, but suddenly he adds new conditions, revealing that he says in closed political salons that there is no ceasefire deal, and in the meantime more prisoners are dying according to the Quds News Network.

Analyses

Netanyahu Wants War, Not Free The Captives – Israeli Analysts

CrossFireArabia
August 23, 2024

Israeli analysts said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would rather have his forces remain in the Philadelphi corridor on the border with Egypt than recover the living prisoners from the Gaza Strip. They stressed that the Israeli government is pushing to frustrate the ongoing truce negotiations.

According to Channel 12 military affairs correspondent Nir Dvori, the army estimates the six prisoners whose bodies Israel announced were recovered this week may have been killed by Israeli fire.

Dvori said that these prisoners had been held by Hamas for a long time and could have been returned alive. He added: It is crucial to reach a deal because “there are 109 other captives rotting in the tunnels and they can be saved.”

Ohad Hamo, Arab affairs correspondent for Channel 12, downplayed the moral significance of recovering the bodies of the prisoners. He said: “Hamas, historically, pays great attention to soldiers, which is understandable if we look at what happened with soldier Gilad Shalit.”

Netanyahu does not encourage negotiations

In this context, Dana Weiss, a political analyst for Channel 12, said Netanyahu himself said he does not believe there is a possibility of reaching an agreement regarding the prisoners and that he is determined to remain in the Netzarim and Philadelphi axes and he is committed to what guarantees him a return to fighting, stressing this kind of “talk does not encourage Hamas to negotiate.”

Weiss added: “In practice, Netanyahu has not budged on the issue of adhering to Netzarim and Philadelphi, and Egypt has confirmed this is unacceptable and there is a state of frustration among the negotiators and the security services.”

According to Weiss, the Israeli negotiators informed Netanyahu “there is no room for negotiations without showing flexibility on Netzarim and Philadelphi, but he told them that it is a political issue and that if he had to choose between Philadelphi and the prisoners, he would choose the former.”

Talia Danzig, the granddaughter of one of the six prisoners whose bodies were recovered from Gaza, said Netanyahu “has disappointed me repeatedly and I do not expect anything from him, but I expect the people to go to the square of the kidnapped (prisoners) because we do not want to live any longer in this calamity.”

She added to Channel 12: “We do not want to live in this devastation.. We want a deal that will return the prisoners alive in a safe manner without risking the lives of soldiers.”

Commenting on this statement, former army spokesman Ronen Manelis said: “You heard what Danzig said and the people who no longer care about the issue of the prisoners must wake up and return to the streets again.”

Manelis added: “Netanyahu must explain how the Philadelphi corridor became so important while Israel did not think of occupying it until eight months after the war and even if it withdrew from it, it can return to it again and reoccupy it within two days if Hamas rebuilds its capabilities,” noting Israel “delayed occupying this corridor because it was afraid to enter it.”

For her part, Moria Wallberg, a political affairs correspondent for Channel 13, said that the negotiating delegation’s visit to Cairo, scheduled for this week, is now in great doubt due to Netanyahu’s position, which renders the negotiations pointless, according to the head of the prisoners’ file in the army, Major General Nitzan Alon.

Wallberg said Netanyahu informed the negotiating team he knows how to manage negotiations and that he had previously managed them with the workers’ union, and that security officials responded that the labor union negotiations were without a time limit, while the prisoners’ negotiations are under pressure because every day that passes means the death of more of them.

Finally, Yisrael Ziv, former head of the army’s operations unit, said that Israel is doing nothing but retrieving bodies in coffins, noting “Hamas, after retrieving some of the prisoners alive, transferred the rest to places from which it is difficult to rescue them without a deal.”

Ziv concluded by saying: “They [Israeli army] returned six bodies and buried them without any ceremony or respect, and this reflects this government’s handling of the prisoners’ issue,” as stated on Jo24 based on the Al Jazeera Satellite Channel.