The Beastman faction in the IDF is intending to keep the war going until Hamas is utterly destroyed. Reserve Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni, a former commander of the IDF’s Gaza Division and former military attaché in the United States, told Israel’s Channel 12 TV in the wake of U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit, that “the United States is expecting us to destroy Hamas,” reported the Times of Israel.
What’s more, said Shamni, even if there weren’t an American green light, Israel must not end this war until “Hamas is utterly beaten … and Gaza demilitarized.” By the end, all the hostages must be returned, and Israel must determine the conditions for Gaza’s reconstruction, possibly with a return of Palestinian Authority rule there, he said. Palestinian sovereignty is clearly not on the table for this faction in Israel.
Shamni said that Hamas recognizes that Israel has a leadership problem, without effective “hands on the wheel,” and he castigates Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for having “nurtured” Hamas, including by “inviting billions” in funding to flow into the Gaza Strip. Shamni added that the military task is “complex” but the IDF can do it—"it has the fighters, the weaponry, the fighting spirit and the determination.”
