“We are stuck in every direction. We are stuck in Gaza. We are stuck on the Lebanese border. We are stuck with the hostages, and we are stuck in the international arena.”
Former Israeli Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar has criticized the government’s handling of the Gaza war, saying Tel Aviv is “stuck in every direction,” according to an Israeli newspaper.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Friday that Sa’ar said: “We are stuck in every direction. We are stuck in Gaza. We are stuck on the Lebanese border. We are stuck with the hostages, and we are stuck in the international arena.”
Sa’ar quit the government last week after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to include him in the war cabinet. The move came two weeks after he dissolved his political alliance with Benny Gantz, war cabinet minister and leader of the National Unity Party.
‘Stand Against Everyone’
The former Israeli Justice Minister further said it was “clear that the world wants (Israel) to end the war. It’s clear that the US administration, for all kinds of reasons, wants the war to be over. So Israel has to stand (alone) against everyone.”
“But you can minimize the dispute with a better handling of the issues that cause us problems and with (the initiation of) more proactive policies,” he reportedly stated.
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Urging the exile of Hamas’ leadership in exchange for the release of Israeli captives, Sa’ar criticized “the same ineffective ideas wrapped in bombastic statements that won’t lead to victory.”
“The time has come for new ideas,” he added.
War ‘Dragging’
The paper reported Sa’ar as saying that until Hamas is destroyed, there can’t be an alternative government in Gaza.
He said the Israeli military should control the distribution of aid, in partnership with international organizations as it is “the only smart option that can prevent the terrorist group’s return.”
Sa’ar also urged the war to be waged “as quickly as possible.”
“We have always known that we needed to wage the war as quickly as possible,” he said. “It is hard for us to wage long-term wars.”
“We can’t drag on the war forever,” Sa’ar continued. “As long as you haven’t ended the Gaza war, you can’t deal with Hezbollah.”
Sa’ar does not necessarily agree with all of Netanyahu’s policies, the paper said, but he stands with the prime minister’s opposition to the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza.
US Criticism
Sa’ar also supported many of Netanyhau’s stances taken in the global arena, including his relationship with the United States, the paper said.
“Netanyahu is acting to preserve Israel’s international interests in this war, and in most of the situations when he fought with the US, I thought he was right,” he stated.
Sa’ar also reiterated his opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, describing it as “a danger to Israel, to its security.”
“It is not a ‘maybe’ danger; it’s a clear danger. The creation of a Palestinian state would allow them to continue their war to destroy Israel from an improved position,” he added.
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Netanyahu’s Popularity
Sa’ar’s remarks follow that of former Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Halutz who criticized Netanyahu this week saying he was leading the country “from bad to worse.”
“He (Netanyahu) is responsible. I don’t know a country in the world where a prime minister, after something like this, would not climb the tallest tower and jump off of it. There is no such thing,” Halutz said in an interview with Israeli Channel 13 News on Tuesday.
Last month, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in an article published in Haaretz, called for early elections in Israel “before it’s too late” given that elections are taking place in 2026.
The former Israeli prime minister criticized Netanyahu’s policies, stressing that his failure to reach a prisoner exchange deal was a “disgrace” on Israel, and warned that the course of the war could threaten to “drown the country in the quagmire of Gaza.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s popularity continues to decline, according to a recent opinion poll published by the Israeli newspaper Maariv on Friday.
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According to the poll, 45 percent of Israelis prefer Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party and current member of the War Cabinet, as prime minister, while only 38% percent think Netanyahu is still suitable for his position.
The survey also highlights a consistent decline in the Likud Party’s popularity, led by Netanyahu, similar to previous polls conducted after October 7.
Staggering Death Toll
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 32,623 Palestinians have been killed, and 75,092 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in the enclave.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
Israel’s inability to fight a long war shouldn’t surprise anybody. It simply doesn’t have the indistrial capacity, or the logistics capacity. As far as Gideon Sa’ar’s views on a Palestinian state, he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. There are six million Jews commemorated in Yad Vashem in Israel to say with one voice that ethno-states, where one “ethnicity” is privileged and all others can go hang, is a criminal undertaking. If Israelis can’t listen to that voice, they’re blatant antisemites.