Telegraph – by Inna LazarevaIsrael‘s acceptance of an Egyptian ceasefire proposal may have temporarily ended the war with Hamas – but the move has sparked a row within Israel’s security cabinet that now threatens the future of the country’s coalition government.
Over half of Israel’s cabinet members are said to have opposed the ceasefire deal which entered into effect on Tuesday evening, with many members furious that Mr Netanyahu opted not to bring it up to a vote.
Discussions over the ceasefire between Israel, Egypt and the Palestinians have been going over the weekend – but during this time, Mr Netanyahu is said to have kept his cabinet out of the loop, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Only once news of the ceasefire agreement had been reported by the Arab media were Israeli cabinet ministers briefed over the phone of the development, writes Haaretz’s Diplomatic Correspondent Barak Ravid.
Naftali Bennett, the economy minister, formerly an adviser of Mr Netanyahu and now one of the prime minister’s key critics, even sought to bring the ceasefire decision to a vote upon realising that many of the cabinet members were against the deal.
However, Mr Netanyahu produced a legal opinion which stated that a vote was not necessary.
Mr Netanyahu has faced growing opposition from his cabinet over his handling of the war with Hamas during the 50-day campaign.
Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister, who had recently pulled out his party from an alliance with Mr Netanyahu’s Likud, has ceaselessly called for a reoccupation of the Gaza strip and a crushing of Hamas, whilst criticising Mr Netanyahu for not acting with enough force.
Last month, Mr Netanyahu fired his deputy defence minister, Danny Danon, after he criticised a previous ceasefire acceptance by Mr Netanyahu. Mr Danon described it as a “humiliating” decision for Israel.
But since the latest ceasefire had gone into effect, even those close to the centre of the Israeli political spectrum have levelled criticism at Mr Netanyahu’s decision.
Members of Yesh Atid, a centre-Right party which is a key member of Mr Netanyahu’s coalition, issued a veiled threat to topple Mr Netanyahu’s coalition by pulling out its support.
“The Yesh Atid party will re-examine its future in the government, based on the political decisions the prime minister makes. Even those who support an agreement, like us, will reconsider their future in the government”, said MK Ofer Shelah.
Due to Israel’s political system, its coalition governments are notoriously unstable and rarely last their full terms.
Mr Netanyahu was also lambasted from the Left, by the head of Israel’s Meretz party.
“The ceasefire came too late and its conditions prove, finally, that Operation Protective Edge is a strategic failure for Netanyahu – who went to war without any goals. And ended it with a great achievement for Hamas at the expense of the residents of the south,” said Zehava Galon, leader of Meretz.
“It is now clear that the suffering of the residents of the south in the last few weeks, as with all the hardships that the residents of Israel have endured, was forced on us by an irresponsible government without any thinking, without any long term planning, and without any results,” she added.
“Over half of Israel’s cabinet members are said to have opposed the ceasefire deal which entered into effect on Tuesday evening, with many members furious that Mr Netanyahu opted not to bring it up to a vote.”
Don’t know what they’re getting so upset about. These things only last until Mossad or some of their useful idiots fire a few rockets into a vacant lot or two, and it’s right back to unabated genocide.
“However, Mr Netanyahu produced a legal opinion which stated that a vote was not necessary.”
Sounds like an Executive Order.
“Mr. Netanyahu”? Why does the author refer him as “Mr.”? Just call him Netanyahu. Are you going to start calling Obama, “Mr. Obama”? Good grief. No one cares about the prefix. You’re writing an article, NOT a story.
Sorry. It just annoyed me.
In regards to the ceasefire, I’m not sure why they stopped. I thought their official goal this time was the complete genocide of the Palestinians? Guess the public pressure got too much for even Bennie. Who knows.
So is the UN and the “International Community” going to punish Israel and put them on trial for crimes against humanity and genocide? No probably not. Just a little finger wagging and that will probably be it.
Here comes “good cop/bad cop”.