The highest echelons of Israeli leadership have descended into a knock-down, drag-out argument over the growing push in the government to fully occupy the Gaza Strip.
At the center of the fight is Eyal Zamir, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces and a longtime opponent of proposed campaigns to take control of the entire region. Zamir is under pressure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to carry out any orders regarding military action in Gaza, which will likely include occupation.
Zamir, appointed by Netanyahu following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in a bid to appease right-wing Israeli politicians with his “aggressive” posture on the conflict, has opposed expanding Israel’s scope of occupation, citing the threat it would pose to the safety of hostages and Israeli soldiers.
Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s 33-year-old Miami-based son, escalated the internal conflict by alluding to Zamir in a message to Israeli military correspondent Yossi Yehoshua, who declared on social media this week that the prime minister “must stand before the nation, clarify the expected price in the lives of the hostages and the soldiers who will fall, and declare that he takes full responsibility, despite the IDF’s opposition.”
“If the person who dictated your tweet is who we all think it is, this is a rebellion and an attempted military coup, something fitting of a banana republic in Central America in the 1970s,” Yair Netanyahu responded. “And it is completely criminal.”
Yair Netanyahu does not hold a government position, and it has not been verified that Zamir was involved with Yehoshua’s post.
Zamir reportedly decried the hostility during a meeting with the prime minister on Tuesday, according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan. The IDF chief reportedly asked the prime minister, “How does that look? Why are you attacking me? Why are you speaking against me in the middle of a war?”
The prime minister reportedly responded, “Don’t threaten to quit in the media. I can’t accept that every time you threaten that if we don’t accept your plans, you’ll leave. My son is 33, he’s a grown man.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz defended Zamir with a public statement that simultaneously affirmed the IDF chief’s right to personal opinion but guaranteed that the IDF would carry out any decision reached by the government.
“It is the right and duty of the chief of staff to express his position in the appropriate forums, and following decisions by the political leadership, the IDF will carry out what was decided with determination and professionalism — as has been done up until now on every front — until we achieve the goals of the war,” Katz wrote.
President Donald Trump‘s administration seems to have given an unconditional green light to Israel to proceed in its conflict with Hamas, however it wishes.
When asked about Trump’s position on a possible occupation of the entire Gaza Strip, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee reaffirmed on Wednesday that the president “respects Israel’s right to do what it has to do to protect itself, to get the hostages back, to end this.”
“The president has made it very clear, the statements he’s made recently in public are statements that show that his patience has run out with any legitimacy of a Hamas agreement,” Huckabee told Bloomberg. “He has concluded that they’re not serious, they’re only into delay.”
Huckabee appeared to be referring to Trump’s comments on Tuesday, in which he suggested he would not personally object to whatever route Israel takes in dealing with Hamas.
When asked whether he would support Israel “reoccupying all of Gaza as has been suggested by some Israeli officials,” Trump deferred to the Jewish state to make its own decision.
“I don’t know what the suggestion is — I know that we are there now trying to get people fed,” Trump said of Gaza. “As you know, $60 million was given by the United States fairly recently to supply food — and a lot of food, frankly — for the people of Gaza that are obviously not doing too well with the food.”
TRUMP ON ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF GAZA: ‘PRETTY MUCH UP TO ISRAEL’
“And I know Israel is going to help us with that in terms of distribution and also money,” Trump continued. “The Arab states are going to help us with that in terms of the money and possibly distribution. So that’s what I’m focused on. As far as the rest of it, I really can’t say. That’s going to be pretty much up to Israel.”
The U.S. has not weighed in on parallel movements in the Israeli Cabinet pushing for the additional annexation of the West Bank.