Israeli war cabinet minister says Netanyahu is lying about defeating Hamas
Israeli war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot took direct aim at Benjamin Netanyahu in a televised interview late Thursday in which he accused the prime minister of not being honest about Israel’s wartime objectives in Gaza.
Speaking with Israel’s Channel 12, Eisenkot addressed Netanyahu’s recent press conference, in which the prime minister publicly dismissed the U.S. push for a Palestinian state after the war is over—and reiterated his intentions to keep the war going until Israel achieves “complete victory” over Hamas.
Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff whose son was killed fighting in Gaza last month, was asked during the interview whether he thought Israel’s top government officials were being honest about their war aims. He answered with a straightforward “No.”
“Whoever speaks of absolute defeat is not speaking the truth… That is why we should not tell stories… Today, the situation already in the Gaza Strip is such that the goals of the war have not yet been achieved,” he said, according to a Times of Israel translation. “I am already at the stage and at an age where I do not trust this or that leader with my eyes closed, and I judge a man by his decisions and the way he leads the country,” he added. [Continue reading…]