Netanyahu, Ya’alon Urge Patience in ‘Long’ Israeli War in Gaza

Israeli Hawks Press Full Conquest of Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today urged patience in the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, insisting the war will continue until it achieves its long-term goals in the strip.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon echoed the comments, insisting Hamas would never “wear us out” and that the Israeli military was comfortable with a long war against Hamas.

The comments came before Israel agreed to return to peace talks in Cairo, but stand in stark contrast to comments from other cabinet ministers, who overwhelmingly were more hawkish, and are pushing for a full military conquest of the strip and the full destruction of Hamas.

An actual peace deal would be extremely unpopular among Israel’s ruling coalition on any terms, and Netanyahu’s current policy seems to be keeping the conflict going at a level that keeps his cabinet happy without escalating to such an extent that it alienates the US and other Western nations counseling caution.

This makes the ceasefires and the peace negotiations that go along with them extremely difficult, as Israel has so far refused to concede a single point on ending the blockade of the strip, meaning the talks keep stalling without resolution.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.