Why has Gallant abandoned Israel’s war goals?

 Israel National News - Arutz Sheva

Caroline B. Glickis the senior contributing editor of Jewish News Syndicate and host of the “Caroline Glick Show” on JNS. She is also the diplomatic commentator for Israel’s Channel 14, as well as a columnist for Newsweek. Glick is the senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy in Washington and a lecturer at Israel’s College of Statesmanship.

(JNS) There was a comical aspect to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s press appearance on Wednesday night. With his best imitation of Patton, he sternly demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abandon Israel’s war aims and instead adopt America’s, which happen to be Hamas’s war aims as well.

“I urge Prime Minister Netanyahu to make this decision and proclaim that Israel will not impose civil rule on the Gaza Strip; that there will be no Israel military government in the Gaza Strip. And that a [Palestinian] civilian alternative to Hamas in Gaza will be advanced immediately.”

Gallant insisted that the public expects the prime minister to crown the Palestinian Authority leader. “The nation of Israel is looking to us and expects us to make the right decisions.”

Yet since Oct. 7, the public’s expectation has been precisely the opposite of what Gallant proclaimed it to be.

Shortly after Hamas’s invasion and slaughter on Oct. 7, opposition politician and former defense minister Benny Gantz brought his party into the Netanyahu government and entered the new war cabinet along with Netanyahu and Gallant.

The cabinet’s first decision—made unanimously—was to set three goals for the war.

-First, eradicate Hamas as a military and political body. READ MORE