The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) embarrassed the Israeli government with the initial positive response to the framework agreement issued by the “Paris Summit.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bet on its rejection of the agreement to continue evasion in the negotiations for the exchange deal and ceasefire.

Hamas' response confused the various Israeli security and military institutions and the political arena, represented by the ruling coalition, which relied on a negative response from the movement to evade responsibility to the international community, and to maneuver in front of the families of Israeli detainees.

The results of an opinion poll prepared by the "Israeli Democracy Institute" showed the validity of the claim that the two goals of the declared war, which are to eliminate Hamas and liberate the detainees, are contradictory.

Contrast and division

According to the poll, which included a sample of 619 people, a majority believes it is necessary to re-arrange the priorities and objectives of the war, as 51% of those surveyed believe that the return of detainees should be the main goal, while nearly a third, 36% of whom are from the extreme right, said that the priority is It must be the defeat of Hamas, while 13% responded that they did not know.

Amid these changes in Israeli society, the far-right parties, represented by the “Religious Zionism” coalition headed by Minister Bezalel Smotrits, and the “Jewish Greatness” party headed by Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a partner in the government coalition, are placing obstacles to the emergency government and the war council and to any attempt to penetrate its position of rejecting any deal. Reciprocate and stop aggression.

On the other hand, the opposition camp led by the head of the “There is a Future” party, Yair Lapid, reiterated that the priority must be to liberate the detainees, even if the price was painful and in exchange for a ceasefire, and called for the overthrow of the Netanyahu government due to its failure to manage the detainees’ file and liberate them.

The positive response of the Hamas movement to the “Framework Agreement,” as political analyst Akiva Eldar says, reveals the extent of the differences in the various Israeli systems regarding the release of detainees held by the resistance in Gaza. This brought back to the forefront the state of polarization and rift in Israeli society that prevailed before the “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7, 2023.

Eldar explained to Al Jazeera Net that the repercussions of the division and divergence of the positions of the Israeli political camps were reflected in the military establishment, which does not oppose the completion of a comprehensive exchange deal, and in the security and intelligence system, which is considered a main axis in the negotiations with the mediators in Egypt, Qatar, and America.

He pointed out that the military and security leaders were criticized by ministers in Netanyahu's government and right-wing members of the Knesset, as they were asked to bear responsibility for the failure to prevent the sudden Hamas attack and to resign.

The political analyst believes that all opinion polls, which favor the votes demanding the return of detainees regardless of the price that Israel will pay, reflect the reality of the challenges facing Netanyahu even within the emergency government, and the dilemma he faces in the general political scene, as a comprehensive exchange deal means that there is no justification. To continue the war.

Dilemmas and challenges

For his part, spokesman for the "Peace Now" bloc, Adam Clare, believes that Netanyahu, who had a consensus in Israeli society regarding the management of the war and the hostage issue, and relied on opinion polls that saw the continuation of the war as a priority over any deal, is now facing internal dilemmas and challenges.

However, Clare says, “As the war enters its fifth month without achieving its goals of liberating the hostages and eliminating Hamas, popular pressure is mounting calling for concluding an exchange deal, even if the price is a ceasefire, as the issue of the kidnapped has become a basic demand of the Israeli public.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, he pointed out that Netanyahu's government will face a lot of international pressure and may clash with the administration of US President Joe Biden, who is preoccupied with the presidential elections and is seeking an exchange and truce deal that will lead to a political path with the Palestinians.

The spokesman for the "Peace Now" bloc believes that Netanyahu's government, represented by far-right parties, will not abandon the ruling coalition and will seek to maintain it because it represents a struggle for survival for Netanyahu in the Israeli political scene, and it also constitutes a cornerstone of Smotrich and Ben Gvir's agenda and ideology of incursion and control of the reins of government in Israel.

He believes that Netanyahu's government, which relies on the confidence of 64 members of the Knesset, and is floundering over options between war, the exchange deal, and responsibility for failure, will not fall or disintegrate through parliamentary opposition, but rather through external international pressure, internal movement, and Israeli public pressure.

Failure and embarrassment

Under the title “Netanyahu’s plan to sacrifice the kidnapped,” journalist Uri Misgav, an activist in the movement against the far-right government, wrote, saying, “Israel failed for 4 months in trying to liberate the kidnapped militarily, and it became clear that military operations killed some of them.”

Misgav adds: “Hamas formulated a serious response and presented a reasonable plan in light of the current bleak circumstances as a basis for negotiations, of course. This is a deal that a rational and responsible government must accept, but Hamas’s response embarrassed the Netanyahu government, which will apparently continue to sacrifice the kidnapped.”

The Israeli writer explained that another deal to return the detainees, or some of them, is conditional on stopping the fighting in the Gaza Strip for a limited period or permanently. He said that stopping military operations for a limited period would lead to a rebellion in the priestly settlement base, a partner in Netanyahu’s coalition, on which his fate and the future of his political career depend.

He pointed out that the decision to sacrifice detainees led to changing the declared goals of the war and that Netanyahu stopped repeating the phrase “the defeat of Hamas and the return of the kidnapped,” and moved to “chatter about complete victory,” adding that this goal was formulated vaguely and is not achievable on the ground to prevent Reaching an agreement and prolonging the fighting is for Netanyahu's own interests.

Source: Al Jazeera