As Israel continues to wage war on Gaza, Palestine enclave, an Israeli cabinet minister has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition of “failing miserably”.
According to Reuters, the war in Gaza and the isolation of Israel in the international arena have prompted a rebuke from Netanyahu’s Likud party as political divisions deepen.
Knesset member Gadi Eisenkot, an observer in the war cabinet, said Netanyahu had failed on security and the economy and called for elections by year’s end.
Speaking at a conference, the former military chief, whose youngest son was killed in combat in the Gaza Strip in December, said Netanyahu was misleading citizens with slogans of “total victory” against Hamas instead of being truthful about the complexity of the Gaza war, now in its eighth month.
“Anyone who says that we’ll disband a few battalions in Rafah and then return the hostages is sowing a false illusion,” he said. “It will take three to five years to stabilize [Gaza] and then many more years to build an alternative to Hamas.”
He accused Netanyahu of failing to meet his top 2022 campaign promises, including stopping Iran’s nuclear program, formalising diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia and strengthening the economy.
In a statement on Telegram, the Likud party said Eisenkot and Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s main challenger, were looking for excuses to quit the coalition at the height of the war.
“Instead of pursuing victory, they are engaging in petty politics,” Likud said.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday withdrew the country’s ambassador to Israel.
The withdrawal of the Brazilian Ambassador to Israel on Wednesday followed months of tensions between the two countries over the war in Gaza.
During a press conference in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa in February, Lula accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
He likened Israel’s actions in Gaza to the actions of Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler and other European countries who exterminated their Jewish populations in the first half of the 20th century.
On Tuesday, May 28, Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognised Palestinian statehood.
Israel has denied allegations made by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it is committing genocide against Palestinians.
It has insisted that its war is against Hamas militant group which attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking approximately 250 hostages.
Israel subsequently declared war on Hamas but more than 36,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed by Israel Defence Forces amid the operation to destroy the militants.
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