Coalition source: Netanyahu decided against hostage deal weeks ago – Philadelphi is an effective spin

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, at a meeting in Jerusalem in June 2024

Ravit Hecht writes in Haaretz on 4 September 2024:

“Benjamin Netanyahu decided some weeks ago that he does not want a deal, and when it became possible, he got nervous and did all he could to torpedo it. He figured out that by using the Philadelphi corridor, he could also draw the sane right to his side, and win some points with this group.

“The media fell for this spin and is consumed all day long with the question of yes or no to the Philadelphi, when the real question is really the fate of the hostages versus the fate of the coalition.”

These words do not come from opposition politicians or anti-government protesters, or even from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant – the only minister in the government who is fighting for the hostages’ lives.  They come from a source in the coalition who is closely involved in and a part of the government.

These words reflect one of the darkest chapters, possibly the darkest, in the history of Israeli leadership: Human lives quiver in the balance – and the prime minister, acting as an all-powerful dictator, permits himself to play with them according to what suits his personal benefit.

Ministers and MKs, who are well-aware of the political considerations guiding the prime minister, are not lifting a finger to save lives. In the ruling party, not a single minister is backing Gallant, and we shouldn’t expect to see anyone do so in the near future.  There are ministers like Moshe Arbel, Gila Gamliel and Nir Barkat who speak out decisively in favor of a deal in the relevant forums. But as they see it, until the prime minister brings a decision to a vote at the cabinet table, no further action is required of them.

Netanyahu, of course, is not bringing any such decision to the cabinet, and since the dissolution of the war cabinet, he is the sole decision-maker.

The ultra-Orthodox factions also like the idea of the deal and occasionally speak out in support of it, but they are primarily focused on the things that really matter to them – issues like the draft law, the rabbis’ law and funding for their yeshivas. The hostages are not at the top of their list.

Bottom line, no one in the government is prepared to stand up against the heartless thuggery of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who are dictating Netanyahu’s conduct on this matter and sentencing the hostages to death.  “Not one minister, including those who know that Netanyahu is sabotaging a deal, will do anything,” the source says. “They are bound to one another, their political survival depends on the government’s survival, and therefore this situation will continue. Netanyahu will pursue an endless war because that’s what is good for him.”

After the thesis that “only military pressure will bring about the hostages’ release,” has crumbled, the current leading right-wing narrative is that “Hamas will not agree to any deal, Netanyahu and Gallant are essentially negotiating just with themselves, and therefore this is all just a political debate.”

They liken the protests that followed the execution of the six young hostages who had managed to survive in Hamas captivity for 11 months after they were abandoned to their fate on October 7 to the so-called cottage cheese protests, outraged by the cost of living about a decade ago, or the Balfour protests against Netanyahu, and insist that they are purely political.

“People see that it’s the same people participating, the same figures, the same messages. And therefore the protests only strengthen the government.”  The claims that Hamas has no desire for a deal, and the repeated assertions about the nature of the protests on behalf of the hostages that they’re really about “the white tribe fighting to retake control of the country” are largely dishonest.

Of course, Yahya Sinwar can be expected to keep on using hellish negotiation tactics to torment Israeli society. But Netanyahu’s declarations are making sure to kill any dynamic of negotiations whatsoever, without which no result is within the realm of possibility.

As for the protests, human lives, the lives of people from all of Israel’s “tribes,” of Israelis of every type, are currently being sacrificed for no good reason. How does this have anything to do with political views or ethnicity or tribal affiliation?

Whoever held out hope that the murder of the six hostages by their captors would budge the right-wing sentiment by so much as an inch, was sadly mistaken. The imperviousness to forsaking the hostages remains unchanged.

The government has immunized itself against mass demonstrations like the ones we saw this week, and is not fazed by them in the least. Netanyahu has let go of his deep fears over a repeat of what happened last year when he fired Gallant.  The launch of his cunning campaign about the Philadelphi corridor shows he is confidently ready to fight the first real challenge that threatened to take a bite out of his political recovery campaign.

If no new levers of pressure are brought to bear, the release of the hostages will only become more distant.

Gantz is not the issue

Benny Gantz angered many opponents of the government when he attended the wedding of Motti Babchik, an influential figure in the United Torah Judaism party, on the day when the murdered hostages were buried.

Much of the anger was sparked by the fact that Gantz was seen shaking Itamar Ben-Gvir’s hand and lightly patting him on the shoulder.

The discomfort is understandable, certainly in these most painful times when the nation is so divided. Figures like Ben-Gvir are not worthy of any displays of legitimacy. However, we mustn’t forget: Every second devoted to attacking Gantz is a second subtracted from criticizing the members of the government, who also celebrated at the wedding in a great show of aloofness to the situation.

Remember, too, that unlike them, Gantz has been working and is still working to secure the release of the hostages, and to support their families.

One can certainly say that Gantz makes mistakes, and his political conduct can surely be criticized too, like all the other opposition leaders, he did not lead the way to the only result that could be considered a success: bringing down the government. But he is not the real problem of the country that is being destroyed here.

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