[News] Climbing down the Gaza Tree - Israel’s Gap between Words and Actions is Growing

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestinechronicle.com
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/climbing-down-the-gaza-tree-israels-gap-between-words-and-actions-is-growing/>
Climbing down the Gaza Tree - Israel’s Gap between Words and Actions is
GrowingJanuary 2, 2024
------------------------------
The gap between Israel's words and actions is growing. (Image: Palestine
Chronicle)

*By Palestine Chronicle Editors
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-editors>*

These are some of the lofty goals put forth by top Israeli government
officials since the start of the war, none of which has been implemented.

On Monday, the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas issued a statement
saying that “the statements of the occupation leaders about displacing our
people from Gaza are daydreams that will be thwarted by our people with
their steadfastness and valiant resistance.”

It is normal, in times of war, that the warring parties make all sorts of
hyped claims. Both sides vow decisive victory. Both sides often claim that
they are vanquishing the enemy. Both sides allege that, at the end, they
would be the only party still standing in the battlefield.

So, for Hamas to make such a claim could easily be dismissed as part and
parcel of the war rhetoric.

If we look at the evidence, however, Israel’s ‘daydreaming’ may not seem an
exaggeration.

On December 21, the Israeli military decided to pull out some of its most
experienced and supposedly battle-hardened elite units, namely the Golani
Brigades.

The moment the soldiers escaped the range of the Yassin-105 and entered
Israel, they seemed intoxicated with the knowledge that they had escaped
the hell of the Gaza battle. They celebrated, not victory, but remaining
alive.

On Sunday, December 31, the Israeli military decided to pull out five
brigades, out of nearly 17 brigades operating inside the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media reported that more such withdrawals should be expected in
coming days. In other words, whatever major plans Israel had for Gaza are
unlikely to be implemented.

Yet, on Sunday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich repeated
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-minister-repeats-call-palestinians-leave-gaza-2023-12-31/#:~:text=%22What%20needs%20to%20be%20done,after%20will%20be%20totally%20different.%22>
the same line that “What needs to be done in the Gaza Strip is to encourage
emigration”.

Hamas’ comment on Israel’s ‘daydreaming’ was a response to that very
statement. Considering the evidence, the Palestinian Resistance group’s
statement is not incorrect.

These are some of the lofty goals put forth by top Israeli government
officials since the start of the war, none of which has been implemented.

*Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu*

*November 11, 2023*
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/netanyahu-says-no-alternative-to-victory-in-gaza-warns-hezbollah-not-to-enter-war/>

“There is no alternative to victory. We will defeat Hamas and bring back
our captives.”

*December 25, 2023*
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-netanyahu-says-military-pressure-needed-free-hostages-2023-12-25/>

“We wouldn’t have succeeded up until now to release more than 100 hostages
without military pressure,” Netanyahu said during a speech in Israel’s
parliament. “And we won’t succeed at releasing all the hostages without
military pressure.”

*December 30, 2023*
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/egyptian-lawmaker-pans-netanyahus-postwar-gaza-ideas-as-violation-of-peace-treaty/#:~:text=Netanyahu%20on%20Saturday%20night%20declared,demilitarized%20when%20the%20fighting%20ends.>

The Philadelphi Route (between Rafah and Egypt) “has to be in our hands”.

*Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant*

*October 20, 2023*
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/gallant-says-after-hamas-vanquished-israel-will-seek-new-security-regime-in-gaza/>

We must destroy Hamas and establish a new ‘security reality’ in the Gaza
Strip.

*Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel  Smotrich*

*December 31, 2023*
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-31/ty-article/100-200-000-not-two-million-israels-finance-minister-envisions-depopulated-gaza/0000018c-bfe8-d6c4-ab8d-fffc0b910000>

“If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million, the
whole discourse about the day after will be different,” Smotrich told
Israeli army radio.

“In order to control the territory militarily over time, you must also have
civilian presence there.”

*Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir*

*January 1, 2024* <https://www.arabnews.com/node/2434796/middle-east>

“We must promote a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza’s
residents.” Ben Gvir argued that the departure of Palestinians and
re-establishment of Israeli settlements “is a correct, just, moral and
humane solution.”

“This is an opportunity to develop a project to encourage Gaza’s residents
to emigrate to countries around the world,” he told a meeting of his
ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, party.

Yet, on Sunday, the Israeli army decided to carry out a partial withdrawal
from Gaza, leaving behind 12 army brigades, with no clear objectives, let
alone a fighting spirit.

The facts above, in the context of the retreat underway, indicate that none
of the lofty goals set forth by the Israeli government have been achieved.

This truth becomes even more evident following the massive volley of medium
and long-range rockets fired by the Palestinian Resistance toward Israeli
targets deep inside the country immediately as the clock struck midnight on
January 1, 2024.

The war is not over, and the Israeli government is itself unclear on what
it believes the future course of action should be. What is clear, however,
is that Tel Aviv is trying to hurriedly get down from a very high tree it
climbed on October 7.

*(The Palestine Chronicle)*
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