“The idea of destroy Hamas it is simply equivalent to throwing sand in the eyes of public opinion”. Word of Daniel Hagaribrigadier general and spokesperson of the Israel Defense Forces. After the clash on June 16th between the army and Benjamin Netanyahu on the 11-hour humanitarian truce announced by the IDF in Gaza Strip but never entered into force, Hagari – well-known face of the Spokesperson’s Unit of the Tel Aviv army – undermines the foundations there doctrine political and military followed by the prime minister to respond to the armed party in power in the Paestine enclave after the attacks of October 7.
In an interview with Channel 13 Newssome excerpts of which were reported by the liberal newspaper Haaretz on its website, the army spokesperson explained: “Hamas is an idea, Hamas is a political party. AND rooted in hearts of the people: anyone who thinks we can eliminate Hamas he’s wrong“, argued Hagari, who every evening enters the homes of Israelis via television to tell them about the progress of the war. “What can be done is to develop something else to replace it. Something that makes the population understand that someone else is distributing the food, someone else is taking care of public services… to really weaken Hamas, this is the way”, added the general, who in a recent poll was indicated as the personality most popular right now in Israel, to the detriment of Netanyahu.
Whose doctrine Hagari has denied even on the very delicate topic of release of the hostages: it will be “impossible” to return all the Israelis seized and held in Gaza through military operations, a strategy followed by the government since the beginning of the operation in the Strip. “We need to reach a scenario where the hostages are returned in another way“, explained the IDF spokesperson.
A very hard blow to what Netanyahu has been saying since the beginning of the conflict and repeated even after the proposal for a cease-fire with Hamas advanced by United States. “Israel’s conditions for putting an end to the war have not changed – the prime minister reiterated again on 1 June -: the destruction of Hamas’s military and government capabilities, the liberation of all the hostages and the guarantee that Gaza no longer represents a threat to Israel.”
Shortly after Hagari’s words came the answer of Netanyahu. Without explicitly referring to what the military spokesman said, the prime minister reiterated that – as established by the Political and Security Cabinet – “one of the objectives of the war is the destruction of Hamas’ military and government capabilities. The IDF is obviously committed to this.”
The clash between Netanyahu and the army began on June 16, the day on which the IDF announced “a tactical pause” daily of 11 hours in the south of the Strip to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. The government’s angry reaction was immediate. Of the plan, according to the site Ynetthe Israeli Defense Minister would not have known anything, Yoav Gallant, and the army responded that the executive had been informed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that “when the prime minister heard the news Sunday morning of a humanitarian pause in fighting for 11 hours a day, he told his military secretary that this was unacceptable.” Haaretz reports it, adding that after the clarification “the prime minister was informed that there is no change in the policy of the IDF (the Israeli army, ed.) and that the fighting in Rafah will continue as planned”. The Minister of Finance was also very harsh, Bezalel Smotrichan exponent of the ultra-right and among the fiercest critics of the government, who had spoken of “delusional announcement“.
