Israeli Defense Minister Gadi Eisenkot took direct aim at Benjamin Netanyahu in a television interview Thursday evening in which he accused the prime minister of not being honest about Israel's wartime goals in Gaza.
Speaking with Israel's Channel 12, Eisenkot addressed Netanyahu's recent press conference, in which the prime minister publicly rejected US efforts to establish a Palestinian state after the end of the war — and affirmed his intentions to continue the war until Israel achieves “complete victory” over Gaza. agitation.
Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff whose son was killed in action in Gaza last month, was asked during the interview whether he believed senior Israeli government officials were honest about their war aims. He answered “no” directly.
He added: “Whoever talks about absolute defeat is not telling the truth… That is why we should not tell stories… Today, the situation in the Gaza Strip is already such that the goals of the war have not yet been achieved.” a The Times of Israel translation. He added: “I am already at a stage and at an age where I do not trust this or that leader with my eyes closed, and I judge a man by his decisions and the way he leads the country.”
The former general was more critical of Netanyahu during the interview, saying that the prime minister bears “clear responsibility” for the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas. He called for new elections because of the “dangerous lack…of confidence in him by the Israeli public.” [Netanyahu’s] Government.”
“You have to show leadership in the ability to tell the truth to people, and the ability to chart the course,” he said. “As a democracy, the State of Israel needs to ask itself after such a serious event, ‘How can we continue from here with leadership that has failed us miserably?’”
The ongoing Israeli bombing of Gaza has sparked protests around the world over the past three months. The dire humanitarian crisis in the Strip has sparked increasingly urgent calls for a ceasefire from human rights organizations such as the United Nations, as well as sharp condemnation of Israel's war strategies from governments around the world.
More than 25,000 Palestinian men, women and children have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7, when Hamas militants infiltrated Israel, killing nearly 1,200 citizens and capturing about 240 others. There are still about 130 hostages held by Hamas, according to current Israeli government reports.
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