Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Lt. Gen Eyal Zamir lost his patience with the insistence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his coterie of “chicken hawks,” in what is reported to have risen to a screaming match. The Times of Israel reported last night that Netanyahu and his clique yelled at cabinet ministers on Sept. 14, that they are ordering the IDF to clear out most of Gaza instead of accepting the hostage-ceasefire deal currently on the table.
First, Netanyahu had challenged Zamir on his press briefings, the Times reported, citing Israel’s Channel 12. He waved around articles on Zamir’s opposition to the drive to clear out Gaza and said: “What is this? Stop giving briefings against the operation. This cannot continue. We made the decision, and you need to carry it out. This isn’t an army that has a country; it’s a country that has an army.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir then challenged Zamir: “What is your reaction to these accusations?” Zamir responded that he was unaware of any briefings given to journalists.
Citing Israel’s Channel 13, the Times reported Zamir to have said: “I am preparing the army for ground maneuvers and am calling up reservists to defeat Hamas as per your instructions. Why isn’t the negotiating team traveling around the world now, in order to bring about a deal...?” He then turned to lead negotiator, Mossad chief David Barnea, and asked: “Why are you in Israel? Go bring us a deal!”
Instead of an answer, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer impugned Zamir’s previous warning against the adventurism of Netanyahu’s gang. He told Zamir that he was wrong about not getting U.S. support for bombing Iran in June. “You stood here and said that the U.S. won’t be with us in Iran, that they won’t fight alongside us. In the end, everything that happened contradicted what you said and your assessments…. There is a deal on the table now, and it is there only because we didn’t listen to you and we didn’t adopt your position.”
Zamir yelled back: “So take the deal!”
History notes that the warnings by Germany’s military leaders in World War II of Hitler’s adventurism and bluffs were afterwards thrown back in their faces by Hitler, as they were similarly undercut by Western leaders who consistently yielded to Hitler’s early gambles.
