Afrasianet - By Antoine Shalhat - It is no secret that  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the most determined to prolong the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip, and the accumulated signs of this are many and appear successively on a daily basis.

As of this writing, the last indicators include:

First, Netanyahu remains determined to maintain an Israeli military presence in the Philadelphia axis despite Egypt's opposition to such an order, and despite a near-unanimity in Israel, including on the part of the security establishment, that turning the issue of Israeli control or military presence in the Philadelphia axis as well as at the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt into a major goal of the war on the Strip is completely unnecessary, and that the central goal should be the release of Israeli abductees. Detained in the Gaza Strip through an exchange deal with Hamas. As Professor of Middle Eastern Studies Dr. Rafael Segev confirmed a few days ago, the Israeli government cannot currently present any significant achievement of the war it has been waging on Gaza for about 11 months, and in light of this, the deal to release the abductees is absolutely necessary, even at the price of withdrawing from the Philadelphia axis.

Second, Haaretz  reported today (26/8/2024) that a high-level Israeli political source sharply criticized statements made by IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari, which naturally expresses the position of the military institution, according to which the army remains committed to achieving one central goal of the war on Gaza, which is the return of the kidnapped and kidnapped, stressing that it will work by all means to reach it. According to the same political source, Haghari's choice of mentioning only one goal of the war and ignoring all its other objectives completely contradicts the decisions and directives of the political establishment. At the same time, he stressed that the objectives of the war were and continue to be the repatriation of abductees, the destruction of Hamas's military and authoritarian capabilities, ensuring that the Gaza Strip does not pose any security threat to Israel the day after the war, and the return of displaced residents from the north (in the border area with Lebanon) to their homes.

Meanwhile, the conviction that Netanyahu's previous position is solely for his own political and personal interest is widening, and in parallel, voices are growing calling for what is described as "saving Israel from Netanyahu." Although Haaretz seems to be the most supportive of this demand, as reflected in a series of articles in recent days, most notably by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, this is not limited to them. The call to Saving the country from Netanyahu was not limited to the desired side, but went beyond it to diving into the means to reach such a rescue in the existing reality. For example, the writer Eyal Megd (Haaretz, 16/8/2024) called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to stand publicly against Netanyahu, who clings to the chair and uses the tools and powers entrusted to him (such as fighting a bloody war that has no end date, with the risks of leaving the kidnapped to their fate) in an irresponsible and destructive manner, in order to ensure his personal and political survival, and to circumvent his judicial status. Megd points out that what prevents the establishment of the head of state from inviting the head of government, who puts his interest above The interest of his country, to discipline, is the principle of preserving institutional powers, which Herzog believes he must abide by, because he does not want to appear as the head of the opposition, but rather wants to maintain his position as the head of state.

This interpretation of Herzog's behavior means, among other things, that it is unreliable. According to political analyst Uri Misgav (Haaretz, 15/8/2024), Herzog was elected president thanks to Netanyahu, so the former is "in the latter's pocket." At the same time, Benny Gantz and Gideon Sa'ar have destroyed the opposition and are not the alternative. The Israeli police were occupied by National Defense Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Time and again, the Supreme Court is deterred by Netanyahu at the moment of truth. Judges in the District Court, where Netanyahu is being tried on suspicion of criminal wrongdoing, are paralyzed by fear. In light of all this, Misgav asserts that the leaders of the Israeli security establishment, from the defense minister to the head of the military intelligence division (Aman), to the head of the army general staff, his deputy, the head of the Shin Bet security service (Shin Bet),  and the head of the Mossad should  not resign from their posts, but on the contrary, they should now go out publicly against Netanyahu, refuse to continue carrying out his instructions, and demand that he is incompetent, and his resignation. In Misgav's opinion, "In Israel there is no sentence for one person, and if he is injured A prime minister who is insane or confused should be removed from office, because the state is much more important than him."

Historian Dr. Dmitry Chomsky believes that to say that such a call for  a military coup against an elected prime minister, in contradiction with the regulations of democracy, is nothing but cheap and baseless demagoguery. In his view, all that is required, in the event that Netanyahu again thwarts the deal now being negotiated, which aims to release the kidnapped and declare a ceasefire, is for the leaders of the Israeli security establishment to hold a press conference at the best hours of broadcasting and to present it to the people. In detail, how concretely does Netanyahu cause the war to continue without any security benefit, how he has thwarted an exchange deal, and why his continued holding on to power will completely destroy the state if he stays seated. Once the leaders of the security establishment present their security and professional analysis to the public, and before the use of the legal "disqualification" measure against Netanyahu begins, there may be a possibility that large crowds of Israelis will pour into the streets and remain there until he resigns.

At this point, we should recall what was revealed by former IDF Spokesperson Avi Benyahu in the context of his weekly article in the newspaper "Maariv" (12/4/2024) regarding the cessation of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in 2008-2009, known in Israel as "Operation Cast Lead", following what he described as the reluctance of the government at the time, which was headed by Ehud Olmert, to propose a political plan. For what was termed the "day after" of the war.

Among other things, Benyahu wrote: Politicians in Israel at the time evaded the question posed by Ashkenazi about the strategic purpose of that military operation, and replied that what he had to do was continue fighting, but Ashkenazi replied that the chief of the general staff who commands the army "is not a bomb contractor for the government."

"I will reveal to you a secret for the first time, which is that several weeks after that operation, and in light of Ashkenazi's failure to receive any guidance on its strategic purpose at the political level, Ashkenazi issued orders to stop the operation without any government decision in this regard.  

Going back to the latest developments related to the war on Gaza and the ongoing controversy between the political and security establishments, which in turn is reflected in the debate among public opinion, it can be estimated that the security establishment's outlook is still tainted with a lot of indecisiveness at a time when it has the ability to take a different path if it has the desire not to hold the stick in the middle.