The spokesman for the Israeli military explained that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal of eradicating Hamas is not achievable. The statement comes amid a growing rift between the Israeli leader and the military.
In remarks to Israel’s Channel 13 News on Wednesday, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military spokesperson, explained that the PM’s stated objective in Gaza is an insult to the Israeli people. “This business of destroying Hamas, making Hamas disappear – it’s simply throwing sand in the eyes of the public,” he said. “Hamas is an idea, Hamas is a party. It’s rooted in the hearts of the people – whoever thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong.”
The statement from Hagari reflects assessments from US intelligence and military officials that destroying Hamas is not something that can be accomplished. The US intelligence community’s threat assessment released in March said that Israel would likely be fighting Hamas for years to come.
Netanyahu’s office responded to Hagari’s remarks by saying the prime minister’s ends in Gaza remain unchanged. Netanyahu “has defined the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities as one of the goals of the war. The Israeli military, of course, is committed to this,” the statement said.
It is not the only time Netanyahu has clashed with members of his military in recent days. On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced a limited pause to operations in a select area of Rafah during daylight hours to allow more aid to reach the Palestinians. Netanyahu quickly denounced the move as “unacceptable.”
Other divides have emerged within the Israeli government. Last week, former IDF general Benny Gantz withdrew from the war cabinet over Netanyahu’s refusal to work out a hostage release agreement. Gantz’s exit led Netanyahu to dissolve the war cabinet entirely.
Another source of friction is a potential law that would remove the Israeli orthodox community’s exemption from mandatory military service. The controversial measure is becoming an issue for Netanyahu, who demanded his political partners “get a grip” and abandon “petty politics.”
“We are at war on several fronts, and we face great challenges and difficult decisions,” he added. “We must all focus solely on the tasks before us: defeating Hamas, returning all our hostages and returning our residents safely to their homes, both in the north and in the south.”
Israel is waging a tit-for-tat war with Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as its operations in Gaza and the West Bank, which are expected to last at least five more weeks. US officials are concerned that Tel Aviv will start a wider war with Hezbollah that will grow to include Washington. Some analysts believe that Netanyahu sees Tel Aviv remaining in a state of war as the key to his political survival, as he faces intense public scrutiny over the ongoing war, the failure to prevent Hamas’ surprise attack last year, and multiple corruption scandals, among other controversies.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
But his plan of massacring large numbers of women and children is coming along swimmingly!
Agreed, "eliminating Hamas" was just another way of saying "Gazans"… which they all know very well. So this has to be a move to oust BB and take a more middle course -declare victory and (temporarily) accept half the Strip.
DUH! This was never about Hamas, as everyone with a brain knows.
Which means this guy is just playing internal Israeli politics. He's fully on board with genocide, but if he can use the ridiculous boast of "getting rid of Hamas" as fodder to attack Netanyahu for his favored candidate, then fine.
This whole conflict is laden with smoke and mirrors, both from the US and Israeli. "By their actions ye shall know them."
And Ita Mar, Bezalel, and Yoav are committed to eliminating Amalekites, not to BB. So pretty soon he'll be lounging on the beach at Mar A Lago.
I disagree. They are killing everybody in Gaza, which means children, women, men, Hamas and the Israeli Hostages INCLUDED.
That's what timmy and jake believe…!
Another words… Israel is fu**ed…!
Asymmetric wars of national resistance always start with the imperial power convinced of its invincibility. Israel has the most advanced military technology US taxpayers can afford. Hamas has no air force, no navy, no drones, no heavy artillery, no missile defense systems, no precision guided missiles, no 2,000 pound bombs. But Hamas defeated Israel because Hamas has the most important asset in asymmetric war, the hearts and minds of the Gazan people. Hamas' offensive operations the past few weeks remind me of the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam. The Vietnamese did not gain any tactical victories. But the Tet offensive showed that despite the use of hundreds of thousands of troops and advanced technology, the Viet Cong still survived and was still resisting. The Tet offensive was the end of the Vietnam, even though the US continued the war for seven more years.
Imperial powers never recognize defeat in asymmetric wars The first stage of imperial denial is escalating the war. Like the US, Israel doubled down on Hamas. But like the Viet Cong, Hamas had the support of many and the sympathy of most of the Gazan people. So the war became a war against the Gazan people, just like the Vietnam War became a war against the Vietnamese people.
The second stage after an imperial defeat is finding a scapegoat. So the IDF blames Netanyahu and Netanyahu blames the US. The blame game continues long after the imperial defeat (the Ranmbo syndrome or the "who lost China" syndrome).
So Israel has been defeated by Hamas
Humanity just might survive US totalitarianism,
Hamas gives hope.
Is there anything new in tthis information? Of course not. IDF from the beginning focused tge war against population not Hamas. Hamas is an ideoligy, thus you have to eliminate as much people as possible. Why is Rafah crissing destriyed? To insure that no foid, nedicine or water can come through crissing cintrolled by another country. A complete siege, complete starvation, disease. This is how one eliminates ideoligy. US has decided to dismantle the pier, as no food was ever mived from there to feed anyone. The ladt oress cinference cinfirned that trucks are still in the staging area. Now that Rafah crissing has been destroyed, US has reacted by reversing the decision to dismantme the pier. There may be more reversals of the reversal coming. This is just a jnee nerk reaction to our ally whose activities we learned about through nedia.
This is great news! US and Israeli genocide defeated by their victims.
Fantastic news!
Eliminating Hamas is unachievable, that's why Netanyahu is trying to eliminate them in places where they are not, homes, schools, churches, mosques, hospitals and other buildings. IDF Soldiers are digging up graves and say Hamas is hiding there.