After 460 missiles were fired from Gaza into southern Israel on Monday and Tuesday with the Israeli air force responding by bombing 160 terrorist-related targets in the Gaza Strip, Hamas and the Israeli government finally agreed to a new ceasefire late Tuesday afternoon.
The decision not to launch a new ground offensive against Hamas and the other Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza led to great anger among the Israeli public and enraged the residents of villages and towns in the Gaza belt in particular.
A poll which was published by TV Channel 2 in Israel on Wednesday evening showed that three-quarters of the Israeli public felt that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman had mishandled the new crisis in southern Israel.
At the same time, residents of the Israeli communities, towns and cities in the area around Gaza staged demonstrations during which car tires were burned while demonstrators demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The protesters said they were fed up with living under the constant threat of missiles and other terrorist activity which has virtually ruined their lives.
On social media in Israel, meanwhile, all kinds of sarcastic jokes were circulating in which the Prime Minister was portrayed as a coward and as a leader who constantly postpones important decisions.
At the same time, members of the Israeli security cabinet, who discussed the security situation in southern Israel for more than six hours on Tuesday, tried to distance themselves from the decision not to enter into a new ground offensive against the terrorist organizations in Gaza.
The political crisis was aggravated on Wednesday when Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman announced his resignation and justified his step by claiming Netanyahu's decision was a "capitulation to terror".READ MORE
