GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 255

War Cabinet Dissolved

Is The US Bribing Israel?

We find out from a report in The Jerusalem Times that the US has been limiting arms shipments to Israel and that will change after a meeting with the US Secretary of State:

During their meeting last week in Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington will in the coming days remove all restrictions on weapons transfers to the Jewish state, according to reports by Channel 12 news and Germany’s Bild.

The questions then turn to why the support was curtailed and then why they decided to change their minds? Inquiring minds like mine wonder if the sudden removal of restrictions has anything to do with the decision by the IDF to implement daily tactical pauses to allow aid in, something the US is praising. Unless they connect the dots for us, we can only guess, but this incessant US meddling is probably part of why Benny Gantz left the war cabinet. We read more on why Netanyahu demanded the lifting of restrictions here:

The unsourced reports say that Netanyahu demanded the renewal of the same level of arms shipments as at the start of the war, lamenting that the US has in practice halted its military support for the war against Hamas in Gaza.

The PM warned the US that not supporting Israel only helps the terrorists:

Netanyahu reportedly warned that the slowing of aid plays into the hands of Iran and its proxies in the region, extends the war and increases the risk of it broadening to new fronts.

In a trust but verify move, Netanyahu alerted his defense team to watch of the increased military shipments:

After Blinken’s pledge, Netanyahu told Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi to make sure that the arms transfers have been renewed during upcoming meetings with American officials, the reports say.

In the past, especially when then President Nixon was in charge and Israel was under attack from all fronts back in 1973 he demanded that Israel get all it needed even when his cabinet didn’t want them to. There’s a new sheriff in town for America and he and his staff are not fully on the side of Israel although they brag that they are. If such and “ironclad” support is the norm, why did the PM have to make this case? Unfortunately that should be an easy question to answer. This is yet another piece of evidence to support my assertion that Israel is going to be on their own if this war is going to end soon. Prophetically, this is what we see if anyone cares to look with an open mind.

War Cabinet Is Cancelled

According to another article in The Jerusalem Post Prime Minister Netanyahu has dissolved the war cabinet:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to dissolve Israel’s war cabinet raises several questions about the management of the war against Hamas from now on.

We don’t have a lot information on why the PM did this, but the timing of it right after Benny Gantz took his marbles and went home can’t be ignored. We read more on how things will be done going forward:

The war cabinet, which was also known as the “small cabinet,” was authorized to make day-to-day decisions regarding the war while bringing broader policy decisions to the larger, statutory security cabinet. In response to a query by The Jerusalem Post, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office said that the security cabinet will now be convened at a higher frequency. In addition, Netanyahu will hold ad-hoc “security consultations” on specific matters when necessary.

The press did ask for how things would work now:

The spokesperson did not answer a number of follow-up questions, including what the division of responsibilities will be between the security cabinet and these “consultations.”

Furthermore, the spokesperson did not address the statutory status of these consultations, such as whether they will be transcribed in an official protocol like the now-defunct war cabinet did. They also did not specify who would participate in these consultations.

Here is what we do know about the logic behind the change:

The deliberations will likely serve two purposes: The first will be to avoid having to convene the security cabinet over minor decisions, and the second will be to keep sensitive information away from the far Right Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

The two were consistent critics of the war cabinet and likely influenced the changes:

Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who are both members of the security cabinet but were not appointed to the war cabinet, repeatedly criticized the latter since its founding for policies that they believed were not aggressive enough. In addition, many leaks emerged from the security cabinet during the months of the war, with Ben-Gvir believed to be the source of many of these.

Netanyahu did try to work around them:

This led the prime minister to avoid including them in certain decisions or revealing specific information. For example, according to Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu refused to show him a draft of Israel’s latest proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.

Their Voices Did Carry Weight

Perhaps lost in all the details is that the two men were still influential:

Still, according to MKs Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot of the National Unity Party, who, until recently, were members of the war cabinet, the presence of Ben-Gvir’s and Smotrich’s threats to leave the government over what they deemed were unacceptable concessions to Hamas, was felt tangibly in the room. Gantz and Eisenkot said that at one point, Netanyahu limited the mandate given to Israel’s negotiating team without updating them due to pressure from Smotrich.

When Gantz and Eisenkot left Ben-Gvir and Smotrich wanted to replace them:

Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich demanded to be part of the war cabinet once Gantz and Eisenkot left the government last week.

However, instead of conceding to their requests, Netanyahu opted to dissolve the war cabinet completely.

I think there are other reasons, but without Netanyahu or his office confirming them, we are left with only what we do know. To some it actually gives the pair more influence:

Nevertheless, it is clear that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich will now enjoy even more influence over security decisions given that the security cabinet will convene more frequently.

To be sure, there was friction and disagreements:

In interviews with foreign media in recent months, Netanyahu repeatedly distanced himself from incendiary comments made by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich and members of their parties, such as calling for a “voluntary emigration” of Gaza’s population or building Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Since they are on the security cabinet they may be assuaged if only for a time. To me this was a politically savvy move by the PM. But is comes with some downsides:

Indeed, the prime minister repeatedly argued that all ministers were free to voice their opinions as they saw fit but that the decisions and policies were decided on only in the war cabinet. With the war cabinet now gone, the prime minister will likely find it more difficult to make this argument.

Perhaps more significantly, Israel made the same argument in the cases made against it in both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court at the Hague. Because according to Israeli representatives, statements made by Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, and others were not indicative of official policy, since formal Israeli policies were decided upon within Israel’s war cabinet.

With the war cabinet gone, remarks by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich could carry more weight and may very possibly negatively affect the ongoing cases against Israel.

I think overall this will allow Netanyahu and the military to get things done faster at a time when decisiveness and quick moves are at a premium. Without so many proverbial chefs in the kitchen Netanyahu and the security team can decide on a direction and then implement it. In short I see this war ramping up and reaching a climax very soon. I’m not in love with the loss of lives that will come with an all-out regional conflict, but in the long term it will lead to the peace and safety predicted in Ezekiel 38.