Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to win more support for Israel’s assault on the Palestinian enclave for the past week while the Israeli military is still on the offensive in Gaza.>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
However, that ostensibly shared goal does not account for the reality: a growing government-to-general conflict. And according to analysts, this signifies that the initial Israeli cohesion during the Gaza war is no longer a thing.
The differences emerge in the open on occasion. Most recently, they have centred on the conscription of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students – the military generals, and many secular Israelis, want them to be drafted like other Jews, but ultra-Orthodox parties opposed to conscription are a vital part of Netanyahu’s cabinet.
Of perhaps more consequence to Gaza, however, are differences over the conduct of the war, and how to end it.
Whoever believes we can eliminate Hamas is wrong, according to Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari in June? One of those people is Netanyahu, who has clearly made the destruction of Hamas one of his requirements for the end of a war that has resulted in the deaths of almost 40, 000 Palestinians. That criticism is part of a wider dissent among some leading Israelis – and even Netanyahu’s own defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has questioned whether there are any plans for ending the war, which began in October.
Netanyahu has reserved his own criticism for the army, sharply criticising plans the military had announced, also back in June, for daily “tactical pauses in fighting” to facilitate aid delivery. According to a former Israeli official, Netanyahu had stated to the military that it was “unacceptable.”
The military’s and Israel’s right-wing political establishments are not particularly new, and their differences are currently rife because of the far-right’s presence within the government.>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE
Far-right settler movements have shifted from an underdog in Israeli politics to the center of political and institutional life over the past 20 years or so. Former supporters of Jewish movements that are banned as “terrorist” groups now sit in senior ministerial positions, with no attempt to repudiate their former affiliations.
In addition to an energised and often aggressive base, the far right’s representatives dominate many of Israel’s institutions, including the police and education system, with their influence over Israel’s traditionally secular army growing more and more apparent.
Rise of the far right
Ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have developed a powerful veto over national policy by repeatedly threatening to walk away and toppling Israel’s electorally fragile governing coalition.
That includes any potential ceasefire with Gaza, and Netanyahu has chosen to ignore those in the West who have called for him to end what is a divisive conflict internationally, citing his fear of the far right’s wrath even more. Netanyahu has his own legal issues, and losing his current protection could be costly.
The far right’s critical view of the army isn’t new. Rather, it stems from the military’s role in the 2005 ejection of the illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza, a move violently resisted by the enclave’s settlers, and their continuing – if sometimes fractious – relationship in the occupied West Bank, officially administered by the army since 1967.
“It seems strange, I know”, Eyal Lurie-Pardes of the Middle East Institute said, “but the settler movement has repeatedly accused the military of anti-Jewish bias in the West Bank”. Beyond differences in war strategy, some of that suspicion extends.
“With its emphasis on balanced genders and the rights of the LGBTQ community, the army is often criticised by settlers and the ultra-Orthodox for what they see as its progressive culture”,  , Lurie-Pardes said.
According to independent Israeli analyst, Nimrod Flaschenberg the religious Zionist and far right’s “march through the institutions” spurred by the 2005 Gaza withdrawal saw a gradual infiltration into many of the country’s establishments, from the media, to education and the judiciary, but the slow-moving hierarchies of the army are a work in progress.
Their influence in the military is growing, however. According to a recent report from The Guardian, about 40% of the army’s infantry officer graduates are graduates of hardline religious Zionist organizations who are more in tune with Ben-Gvir and Smotrich’s worldview than ultra-Orthodox Haredim, who avoid military service, or senior Israeli military old guard commanders.
You can see this influence in both Gaza and the West Bank, according to Flaschenberg, referring to the areas that Israeli settlers regard as their own by divine law in particular. These lower-ranking, middle-ranking officers are engaged in almost genocidal religious chants while either abusing their rights or engaging in horrifying rights abuses. All the while, their generals denounce such actions, while doing nothing to prevent them”.
Yehuda Fox, an Israeli general who has been a member of the Israeli army since 1987, made one notable denunciation earlier in July. He declared it a “nationalist crime” for the settler violence that has claimed dozens of Palestinian lives in the West Bank during the conflict.
And yet, ultimately, criticism from the armed forces of Israeli actions in the West Bank remain few and far between, and the military itself conducts near-daily raids on Palestinian cities, towns and villages, and has even attacked them from the air since October. The regular ill-treatment of Palestinians under occupation is also rarely, if ever, criticised by the army’s senior leadership.
Regarding the conflict in Gaza, both the army and the government have fully supported the massacre of thousands of Palestinians and agreed to do so despite their differences largely regarding tactics and plans for the future.
At war with the army
Gallant informed the general public that if operations were to continue, the army would need 10,000 more soldiers right away.
In early June, media reports pointed to shortfalls in both equipment, munitions and troops, with more and more reservists failing to arrive for duty, accounts of tanks entering Gaza only partly equipped, and broken equipment going untended.
The army was also informed by the reports that Hamas was prepared to negotiate a truce if it allowed for the release of the remaining prisoners from Gaza.
“People are unhappy, but we’re nowhere near reaching a critical mass”, Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group said. “However, this is the closest to that I can remember. I can’t think of any other time when criticism]on both the army and government sides] was carried out on this scale”.
Nevertheless, across Israeli society, signs of war fatigue are growing. The Israeli association , New Profile, which supports Israelis hoping to avoid military service, reports increasing numbers of inquiries from conscripts and reservists eager to avoid serving in the Israeli military.
“There’s been an increase in inquiries since October 7”, a spokesperson for the group told Al Jazeera, referring to the start of the conflict.
Reservists are becoming less and less interested in returning after being traumatized by previous deployments, according to the spokesperson.
While far from ready to mutiny, few would suggest that the army isn’t experiencing unparalleled pressure.
The Israeli army is engaged in combat on several fronts despite having been fighting for almost 10 months and having no clear victory in sight.>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE
