Israeli Minister: “Likud is currently preparing to put Netanyahu’s head on a platter in order to save the party. If Netanyahu does not learn lessons, others will learn lessons in his place.”* Report: “A gap between estimates of the army’s achievements in previous wars and reality.”

Reports published in Israeli newspapers indicate that the popularity of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been steadily declining since the launch of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7. This decline is not only among the opposition and communications parties, but also within the Likud Party led by Netanyahu.

The belief in Likud, in the wake of the Hamas attack more than two weeks ago, was that Netanyahu would record a “victory image” that would restore to him the image of a “strong leader.” After that, they in Likud stopped defending him, and now moved to attacking him, according to what the newspaper “Haaretz” reported today Tuesday. It quoted a Likud minister as saying, "Any decision Netanyahu made in the last two years was bad. Including the reform (the plan to weaken the judiciary). Either he did not decide or he made bad decisions."

The newspaper pointed out that there is no pressure on Netanyahu within Likud to stop delaying a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, in contrast to the pressure exerted by other right-wing parties to launch the invasion. A Likud minister said, "We do not know what the considerations are for delaying ground entry and whether it is due to Joe Biden, a northern front, or prisoners and kidnapped people. No one in Likud is rushing to exert pressure in any direction because we do not know enough about this issue."

However, a minority in Likud believes that Netanyahu will leave voluntarily at the end of the war. The Likud minister said, “As far as I know his crooked head, he will claim that he currently wants to investigate, investigate facts, etc., and I personally will not allow him to do that.”

While Likud ministers threaten to resign from their positions, it is unlikely that they will take such a step. However, rumors indicate that these ministers are Yariv Levin, Miki Zohar, Yoav Kisch, Avi Dichter and Nir Barkat. None of these ministers denied the possibility of their resignation, but none of them defends Netanyahu.

The Likud minister said that the ministers of this party depend on the "war cabinet" and not on the expanded cabinet. He added, "I rely on the cabinet with Eisenkot and Gantz. By the way, Eisenkot is the most aggressive among them. Gantz is calm. Netanyahu, as usual, is the biggest coward. Netanyahu will implement what the military echelon tells him."

The newspaper added that the information leaking from the “War Cabinet” indicates cooperation among its members, with the exception of tensions between Netanyahu and the Minister of Defense, Yoav Galant.

Gallant issued a statement yesterday in which he touched on the ground invasion, and considered that “we are preparing for the next stage in a radical way. This will be a deadly attack from the air, sea, and land. The Minister of Security, like the army and most members of the reduced cabinet, has a firm position, which is that eliminating Hamas can be achieved by Ground invasion only.

However, the Maariv newspaper pointed out today that “Netanyahu suddenly deviated in recent days to another direction, and voices close to him have risen that believe that this battle against Hamas can be managed without soldiers entering the Gaza Strip as well. In addition to that, they have risen recently.” Another message that is not spontaneous, which calls into question the competencies of the Israeli army in waging a ground battle against Hamas and Netanyahu’s confidence in ground weapons.”

The newspaper stressed that a ground invasion “is no picnic. Unfortunately, the army has squarely won over doubts regarding the gap between estimates of its achievements and what actually happened in reality. The pledges made in Operation Guardian of the Walls (the Battle of Saif al-Quds in May 2021) were... Arrogant and baseless statements that Hamas’ military power will be eliminated for many years.”

Israel threatens that the fire it launches in a ground invasion will be very intense and brutal. The newspaper pointed out, "It is possible to believe that Gallant, who during Operation Cast Lead, at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, was commander of the southern region in the Israeli army, sees this as an account that should be closed."

The newspaper pointed out that "Hamas has since developed everything related to defensive tunnels, despite the Israeli army leadership's exaggerations about the damage it sustained after attacking the Metro tunnels. All the tunnel basements are still unknown."

Source: Arab 48