Israel's Opposition Must Dispel Netanyahu's Lies

Haaretz Editorial
Sep 5, 2024

National Unity Party Chairman Benny Gantz and his party colleague Gadi Eisenkot did well to come forward and bring all their weight to bear, as former IDF chiefs of staff and former members of the war cabinet, to unpack the lies that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is feeding Israel's citizens at such a critical time. The head of the opposition, Yair Lapid, also did the right thing when he said: "As long as this government exists, the war will continue."

Netanyahu is lying to the public when he calls the Philadelphi route an existential necessity for Israel. He is cynically scaring the public, whose sense of security is in any case shaky since October 7, to justify his insistence on the IDF remaining on the Philadelphi corridor – at the cost of the hostages' lives and contrary to the position of the defense establishment and of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Netanyahu's position regarding the Philadelphia route is based on neither security needs nor strategic needs; its purpose, rather, is to foil any possibility of returning the hostages through a deal: He does not want a deal, at least not at this stage, because it would jeopardize his continued rule.

Netanyahu's problem is that the defense minister refuses to cooperate with this lie. Gallant, along with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi, have made it clear that there is no security obstacle to signing a deal that would include the IDF's withdrawal from the Philadelphi route. That is why Netanyahu turned to the public and, as part of the campaign to smear and pin the blame on the defense establishment since October 7, he paints Gallant as a kind of traitor solely because he has not lost his independence.

link to source no paywall :

https://archive.md/1DDp3