Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir harshly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on social media Wednesday night for his weak response to Hezbollah’s heavy rocket fire on northern Israel and for excluding Ben Gvir from wartime decision-making.
Referring to the 215 rockets Hezbollah launched at Israel on Wednesday following the killing of a senior commander by the Israel Defense Forces, Ben Gvir praised the military’s action but wrote on X that “hundreds of rockets cannot be answered with surgical actions.”
Ben Gvir again urged a more forceful stance against Hezbollah in Lebanon, claiming that Netanyahu was now “out of excuses” for avoiding a full-scale war with the group. He stated, “You are the minister, and you cannot even hide behind [Benny] Gantz and [Gadi] Eisenkot anymore.”
The centrist National Unity party of Gantz and Eisenkot joined the government in an “emergency” role soon after the war in Gaza started with Hamas’s October 7 mass attack. This agreement led to the creation of a small war cabinet consisting of Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Gantz.
Eisenkot, like Gantz a former IDF chief of staff, participated in the cabinet as an observer.
Since the emergency government was formed, Ben Gvir has complained about his faction’s exclusion from the war cabinet. He has publicly issued a series of stringent demands, including stopping all humanitarian aid to Gaza and invading Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah entirely. He has called National Unity’s potential exit from the coalition a “big opportunity.”
On Wednesday evening, Netanyahu held a security meeting with top officials to discuss the northern escalation.
“There is no doubt that the prime minister’s obscene habit of excluding me from security meetings ‘proved itself’ on October 7,” Ben Gvir wrote sarcastically on X, alluding to his belief that Hamas and Hezbollah have not been dealt with harshly enough.
Ben Gvir has consistently advocated for war with Hezbollah since it began its near-daily attacks on Israel on October 8, claiming solidarity with Hamas, which is at war with Israel in Gaza.
He has also asserted since October 7 that had his approach been used against Hamas, the group would not have launched its attack, in which approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
{Matzav.com Israel}
Bibi caving to the leftists. Their groupies are all commenting on i24 channel which has become unwatchable.
Bibi is not caving to anyone anymore. He’s gone. Look at the pictures.
Doesn’t Ben Gvir notice the obvious – that “Netanyahu” is not who he thinks he is? Can’t he tell it’s an actor wearing a Netanyahu facemask?