A knife in the back: Netanyahu is waiting to oust Gallant, the only question is when - analysis

He is alone. There is no one to consult with, no one to think with, trust, or lean on.

The Prime Minister's work environment looks like a chore. Almost empty of people, desolate, tormented. The standard of those who remained there explains the quality of their management of the state in the last months (and before).

The narrow cabinet has been emptied. Gantz and Eisenkot are gone. He has not mentioned the name Yoav Gallant.

The only connection to him is in the headlines, leaks, and street fights at the expense of national security. Oh, and if we mentioned national security, what is in the cabinet? One Itamar Ben-Gvir and one Bezalel Smotrich.

There is Ron Dermer, an oddball who was not born here, did not serve in the IDF, does not know Israeli society, and is hated by the democratic establishment in the USA.

There is Aryeh Deri, but he has long been concerned only with himself, his family, and the jobs he can squeeze out of the state. Those who continue to promote the corrupt "Rabbi law" will lose the remaining public credit if they ever had it.

And so Netanyahu faced Gallant almost alone. At the mercy of his own people, near and far, without any reasonable support.

All this happens in one of history's most challenging and fateful periods when huge decisions of biblical magnitude must be made.

And amid all this, he suspects that the heads of the army are against him; the chief of staff, the head of the Shin Bet, he suspects everyone.

His military secretary was changed not long ago. The new, new guy. He occasionally connects junior officers to him behind the system's back. The main thing is for the boss to listen to officers that he doesn't suspect of anything.

Think of prime ministers in similar situations. Eshkol on the eve of the Six-Day War. Golda on Yom Kippur. Olmert on the eve of the bombing of the Syrian reactor. They had support.

Eshkol had a Rabin, had a Dayan. Golda had a Dayan and an Elazar and a Barlev. Olmert had Ashkenazi, Yadlin, Shkedi, and Meir Dagan.

It's not that Netanyahu doesn't have capable commanders. Yes, they are responsible for the intelligence and operational failure that led to October 7, but they are capable people, the best of our generation, experienced and determined. The problem is that he suspects them.

His poison machine pummels them around the clock. They are not working for the security of the country. They are planning a military coup. So, what do you do when there are no officers or security ministers?

You can try to exchange words or consult with the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. The problem is that this is Yuli Edelstein, another so-called "foreign agent."

Surrounding Netanyahu, they were entertained, and are still entertained, by impeaching these two. Edelstein and Gallant, not necessarily in that order.

A clarification call was held with Edelstein this week. Edelstein took half a step back, but that did not convince Netanyahu. He is still convinced that Edelstein is a member of the radical left forces, progressives, Islamic Jihad, and Avigdor Lieberman, with the aim of overthrowing the government.

The possibility that Edelstein is actually worried about Israel's fate and thinks that there is no choice, that the ultra-Orthodox should be mobilized, does not occur at all in the minds of Netanyahu and his people. They do not understand the idea of national considerations; they only understand personal considerations.

For now, let go of the idea of ​​ousting Edelstein. They have not yet, and will not, abandon the idea of ​​ousting Gallant. This is an old idea. Last time, it almost ended in disaster. Since then, there has been almost no relationship between Netanyahu and Gallant.

The problem is, there is no courage for another impeachment either, maybe during the recess when the government cannot be overthrown in the Knesset.

The long knives have already been drawn; what's missing? Only the signal to use them.

Netanyahu is undecided. Those around him urge him to throw Gallant to the winds and offer his position to Gideon Sa'ar (if this is possible). Or to anyone who swears allegiance to the queen. Will it happen? You never know.

This week, it became clear, definitively, that the video that Netanyahu distributed last week, in which he publicly attacked the American administration for the delays in the supply of armaments to Israel, caused enormous damage.

Gallant tried to make amends during his visit to Washington and succeeded, partially. The delayed shipment was not only not released following Netanyahu's video, but the opposite.

Gallant tried to speed up the progress of the other shipments, which did not reach Israel at the rapid rate at which the shipments arrived in the first months of the fighting.

What was going through Netanyahu's mind when he distributed the video? I can guarantee what did not happen: the interest of the State of Israel did not happen.

There is no sane prime minister who would attack the American government like this when it is in the midst of such a difficult, long, and dangerous war, and it is completely dependent on the goodwill of the president who will sit in the White House for the next seven months. There isn't.

Either Netanyahu was simply trying to thwart Gallant's mission, or he was trying to plant a flag on the hill so that he could later say that the shipments were suspended because of him and not because of Gallant, or he was trying to find another alibi for himself, why he didn't attack in Lebanon or why he didn't decide in Gaza.

If we live in the football league from Saturday to Saturday, then in the Bibi league, he lives from alibi to alibi. There always has to be some factor that can be blamed.

In the "interview" that Netanyahu gave to Yinon Magal on Channel 14 at the beginning of the week, he accused us of not eliminating Hamas. Yes, us. "There was no public legitimacy" to topple Hamas in Gaza, he told Magal, who, of course, eagerly bought this stinky merchandise. Poor Netanyahu. He wanted it, but the public wouldn't give him it.

So, if there was no legitimacy, why did he promise to do it before he came to power?

Because there was legitimacy. Even legitimacy from wall to wall. It is almost a consensus. After all, Netanyahu's adviser in 2009, Israel Bachar, already told how he advised Netanyahu to stay in power he should overthrow the Hamas government in Gaza in order to curb the rise in the polls of Avigdor Lieberman.

Netanyahu adopted the recommendation in the famous recording where he promised to overthrow Hamas's rule. Immediately after it, Lieberman was subdued, dropping from 18 mandates to 15 (which he received at the ballot box), and Netanyahu returned to climbing in the polls.

But that's not all. This week in "On the Other Side" on Kan11, Tom Aharon brought two polls: one was conducted by Panels in 2009 for Channel 2, according to which a huge majority of the public, 89%, supports an extensive ground operation in Gaza.

Even five years later, during Operation Protective Edge, a poll conducted for Channel 10 showed that 87% support the continuation of the IDF's ground operation, and 69% support the overthrow of Hamas rule in Gaza.

What did Netanyahu do then? He leaked the IDF's presentation in the middle of a cabinet meeting. He ran home without doing almost anything except for a minimal tunneling operation that would never have happened if it weren't for the swaying of Minister Naftali Bennett.

So why are Yinon Magal and the rest of the flatterers and sycophants still buying this tainted product from Netanyahu?

Why don't any of them ask him something like, "Sir, you say you didn't overthrow the Hamas government because there was no public legitimacy and there was no consensus, but you did go for a violent overthrow even though a large majority of the public opposed it? After all, there was no legitimacy or consensus here either. How does that fit?"

They buy these goods and do not ask the hard questions for a simple reason: they are not interested in the truth or in the fate of the country. They are not fighting for Israel's security. They fight for a living. Bibism is an industry—profitable real estate. Along the way, it also involves brainwashing, a cult of personality, and the intensive distribution of misinformation.

When egg is smeared on your face, ignore it; smile when another failure blows up in your face. Take your time, lower your profile, catch your breath, hide the shame, and then re-emerge, like the phoenix, and blame someone else.

An Israeli militia

The warning letters distributed by the investigative committee regarding the submarines and vessels this week fell on Netanyahu like a thunderbolt on a clear day. The things written there should lead to the sudden resignation of every head of state in every country—except our country. Netanyahu is capable of it.

He was found responsible for the disaster in Miron, and he didn't care—just like during the fire in Carmel—just like October 7th. He has a blanket exemption from liability. He's only here to clip coupons.

The events described by the submarine committee should keep any Israeli awake.

The amateurish management, the malignant tinkering, the neglect and feeding of all the discussion, approval, and decision-making processes. The sections everyone needs to know. The foreign interests. Ignoring proper governance and governance procedures.

There is general neglect in everything related to the level of management and functioning of the most important systems in the country. All of these are reflected in the letters distributed by the committee and, even more than that, in what happened to us on October 7 and from then on.

We are a people without a country—a flock without a shepherd. Bibism burned everything here. Look and see who is appointed here to senior positions. What are the criteria for decisive roles that are supposed to decide between good and bad, between professional and amateur, between worthy and wretched, and between life and death?

The incident where Netanyahu gave Chancellor Merkel approval to sell strategic submarines to Egypt without anyone in the security establishment knowing about it will only foreshadow what happened later. The situation continued to deteriorate at an exponential rate until October 7. You already know how it ends.

These warning letters prove what has been claimed here many times: in the investigation of the submarine affair, Netanyahu received benefits, discounts, and promotions from Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit that even Noa Kirel did not receive.

He rushed to "exonerate" him, even before the investigation was ripe. Netanyahu was not questioned at all. No effort was made to reach the truth. By the way, the same discounts and benefits were received by Mrs. Netanyahu in the Dormitory Case and received by Netanyahu in the thousands of cases.

No, Mandelblit is not a corrupt man. He is an honest man who wants to do good. He came to the position with a sluggish temperament opposite to that of Menachem Mazuz, who attacked Olmert with the determination that the FBI attacked the Italian mafia.

Mandelblit was reluctant to interrogate Netanyahu, dragged his feet, hesitated, struggled, did not take the necessary measures, did not pursue contact, did not approve confrontations or investigative measures of the type that Olmert "accepted". He didn't do it to protect Netanyahu; he did it because he believed there should be no rush to investigate a prime minister.

I haven't talked to him about it, but I reckon today he regrets it.

In his innocence, he thought that if he went in light and focused only on the "safe" cases, so much the better. He was wrong. He could not imagine that Rubin Rivlin's prophecy would come true and that the suspect, who became the accused, would rather burn the house down on its occupants than vacate the chair.

Now, Netanyahu's attorneys are telling his judges that he will not be available to testify until mid-next year. He is uncomfortable now, and he is busy.

They claim this even though he and they have stated many times that the prime minister can conduct a war and a trial at the same time.

Although they pledged that there is no conflict of interest. Although they swore that everything would continue as usual.

In reality, the event, named Benjamin Netanyahu, is a rolling, blatant, loud and violent conflict of interest.

What he said about Olmert when the investigations against Olmert began is being fulfilled before our eyes in monstrous proportions.

You don't have to be the president of the Supreme Court to know that Netanyahu's interest is that the war will never end. The question is, is it also in the interest of the country he leads?

Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife fear for their lives. They are persecuted, haunted, scared people. This is not an exaggeration. This is the bad wind that blows between the different homes that we finance for them.

No place is safe for them. They are convinced that here, soon, a riotous mob with torches and pitchforks will break into the palace and drag them away by their hair to the gallows.

They are convinced that it could happen at any moment. They also shudder at the possibility that external enemies such as Nasrallah, Iran, or Sinwar will "mark" them. They will be ranged. Terrifying missiles will be launched to eliminate them. They don't just think it. They also say that in all kinds of forums—she in internal forums, he in documented forums.

Before we continue, the amazing protest against the coup d'état (a coup that always continues as embers) was peaceful, completely free of violence, massive, and spectacular.

The current protest, which is a combination of hostage families' protest and a public protest against the government, is also non-violent. On the contrary, most of the violence in our streets is Bibist violence directed against the protestors, and not the other way around.

Another part is crude, blatant, and dangerous police violence of what used to be the Israel Police and turned into a rotten siege militia in the service of a criminal and terrorist supporter.

Having said that, it should be emphasized again and again: all the patriotic and dedicated Israelis who go out into the streets, with or without a flag, should do everything to stay away from violence.

Any hint of violence, including verbal violence, including fantasies about violence. The protest is just, democratic, essential, and impressive. Any trace of violence will tarnish and destroy her.

Even speeches that look like violence, like Ami Dror's speech, are completely unnecessary. Along the way, they also cause terrible damage to the goal of all of us: to bring about the departure of the leader who wreaked havoc on this country.

Every time an Ami Dror-style threat is displayed on social media, it brings disappointed supporters back to Netanyahu. It alienates the patriotic-state-liberal-right-wing public from the important goal for all of us, which is the salvation of the State of Israel. And now, let's continue.

The unhappy couple

This week, Michael Hauser Tov published in Haaretz that Mrs. Netanyahu said in a private conversation that she does not trust the heads of the security establishment because they are planning a military coup against her husband. The update is accurate.

The same lady's son spreads and likes crazy conspiracy theories much more than his mother. One can only imagine what the members of this exiled family imagine will happen at the height of that military coup: Will a group of soldiers break into the living wing of the enchanted castle and drag the couple to the firing squad, as was done to Elena and Nicolae Ceausescu at the time? It sounds like a joke, but it's not. They really fear such an event.

Do you remember the fake news distributed by the [Netanyahu] poison machine that protesters in Balfour almost broke into the daycare center (the Shin Bet and the police completely denied it)?

The delusion that the demonstrators around the hair salon where the lady was sitting in Madinah Square almost lynched her?

So take it, mix it up, add oil, poison, stimulants, and hallucinogenic mushrooms, upgraded by ninety shekels and multiplied exponentially, to reach what is running around in Netanyahu's dormitories now.

This is the reason for the state's continued crazy investment in various protection measures in the family's many lairs, as well as in its borrowed home.

Recently, additional directions have been added to this scenario: Netanyahu fears that in the event of a flare-up on the northern front, Nasrallah will target him.

The video released by Hezbollah, showing aerial photographs of strategic infrastructure targets in Israel, including the exact coordinates of each target, further obscured the clouded peace of the man who is convinced that he is the primary victim of the October 7.

They will take me down, he told whoever told him. It is not for nothing that he and his wife are trying to find alternative shelters for themselves (Palik's villa in Jerusalem is one example. By the way, there is no nuclear shelter there). On the night of April 14, when Iran and its affiliates launched over 300 missiles and drones at Israel, such a possibility was taken into account.

But not only Nasrallah and Iran. Hamas may also mark Netanyahu as a strategic target. So, at least, he thinks. He has said this quite a lot in recent years.

If he and his family had allocated to the issue of national security, for all our sakes, the energy they allocated to their personal security, we would have reached world peace a long time ago. In reality, we buy generators, store water, and try to get ourselves foreign passports.

The hallucinations and the efforts to fortify, defend, and strengthen continue all the time, around the clock.

This week, the Likud's legal advisor sent a letter to the head of the Shin Bet with a headline that should shock every human being living in our world: "A clear and immediate danger to the physical safety of Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, his wife Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu, and their children. A request to take all necessary measures in order to prevent and thwart the threats to murder them."

This letter is one, the last, link in the endless chain of generations of associates, advisors, snitches, politicians, and various personalities warning and sending letters or excited calls to the authorities or just to the media about the terrible danger facing the unfortunate couple "and their children."

The addition regarding the children is not accidental, although I assume it does not include the daughter. One of the children, as is known, is in exile.

I have no idea if he is there voluntarily or is being held under duress and what circumstances caused the guy to be displaced to the Miami Penal Colony. I think that his strict security arrangements are at our expense. They include two Shin Bet security guards from the Personal Security Unit. Not long ago, this very expensive arrangement had to be reconfirmed. It was also necessary to reconfirm that Mrs. Netanyahu is secured by the Shin Bet and not by the "Magan" unit, whose job is to protect the Cabinet ministers.

Preventive measures were taken for this event, and a careful plan was planned.

The body that recommends the need for security and the type of security for elected officials and government symbols is called the "Advisory Committee."

During the previous government, Dr. Yoram Torbowitz headed the advisory committee. Immediately after returning to power, Netanyahu replaced the committee and appointed M., who was the commander of the Personal Security Unit and retired from the Shin Bet about two years ago, as chairman.

The gossip claims that the lady liked M. very much. His associates vehemently deny it. It is immaterial. Next to him was appointed Michal Abadi, the general accountant who was once summoned by the Lady of Balfour so that she would approve an extensive round of renovations in the place, and Avi Bleshnikov, who is also no stranger to the couple.

Now, hold on tight.

Not long ago, it was announced that Netanyahu is delaying a round of appointments of Shin Bet chief Ronan Bar. Heads of divisions, heads of divisions, that kind of thing. It is a strange and one-time event. Prime Ministers do not delay appointments in the Shin Bet. They don't usually know the appointed people.

There can be differences of opinion when appointing a deputy head of service, but not in cases of department heads. It turns out that Netanyahu tried to force Ronan Bar to appoint M., the same M. from the "advisory committee", as head of the security department.

It is an appointment equivalent to the rank of Major-General in the IDF. It has meanings. And all this two years after M. retired from the service.

Note: Sources who know M. from his Shin Bet era swear by his honesty and fairness that he has nothing to do with the request to be appointed head of a wing, they swear.

But Bar opposed the appointment. Netanyahu insisted. In the end, Netanyahu surrendered. In the meantime, by a chilling coincidence, M. resigned from the committee's chairmanship. Then he retracted it. His associates deny that he resigned because he did not receive the appointment. There is no connection; they say it was a personal matter. So be it.

One way or another, in between, a crucial advisory committee meeting was held on June 9, which had to form an opinion on two issues critical to the nation's future. That is, for the future of the family, whether to approve an additional period of security by the Shin Bet for the son and his wife, and a further requirement: establish that a prime minister who has been in office for over ten (or 15) years will be granted security even after the end of his term. No, not just him: he and his nuclear family members.

Yes, it's real. And what happened at the committee meeting? Sources familiar with the matter report a farce.

The police dispatched a junior agent who mumbled something. The Mossad did not send a representative at all. The Shin Bet did send. According to the Shin Bet representative, there is no justification for the continued security of the son and the wife by Unit 730. There are no concrete threats that justify it; there is only a discourse of violent networks.

This is where the learned members of the committee came into action. They interrogated the Shin Bet representative for two and a half hours as if it was the evidence phase of Arlozorov's murder.

They were equipped with A4 sheets on which many of the "threats" were written down in handwritten form. They claimed to have intelligence about such threats.

When asked where the intelligence came from, they answered that it was taken from Facebook and Twitter. Someone even added and said that "the State of Israel will not be the same state if Mrs. Netanyahu or the son are murdered."

As expected, the committee's recommendations were to continue providing Shin Bet security for the son and wife and not to lower the level (and cost) of security as recommended by the Shin Bet "in light of the threats."

The final decision must be made by the Ministerial Committee on Shin Bet Affairs, which is chaired by, you guessed it, the Prime Minister. If he cannot participate in the discussion due to a conflict of interest, Justice Minister Yariv Levin will take his place. Now, try to guess what he will decide.

Meanwhile, the load on the Shin Bet's personal security unit is increasing. The pressure on the Shin Bet to change its security position is also increasing. The workload within the service, which is at war, and within the personnel security unit has reached superhuman levels. It is not easy to be a security agent.

On the one hand, you have to protect an entire country. In this case, there is no lack of intelligence about the dangers facing it and its citizens. On the other hand, you also have to protect the Prime Minister and his family.

After all this, you also need to continue planning the military coup and keep in touch with Sinwar because, as I recall, you are the one who opened the gate for him at night so he could slaughter us in the morning.

You reap what you sow

Finally, a word about conscription: don't believe all those who say that the ultra-Orthodox will not enlist. That they will die and not enlist. Which is impossible by force because it's not true.

Think for a moment about Ben-Gurion on the eve of the declaration of the state. What chance did he have? The Yishuv had 600 thousand people. All around, millions of Arabs. Regular armies of countries that threatened to invade. The local gangs. Jerusalem is under siege. But he decided to announce the establishment of the state and did it. Luckily for us.

We are in a similar situation. Historically. If we don't mobilize the ultra-Orthodox, we will face a broken trough in ten or twenty years. All that is needed is the courage to decide and the ability to execute. No one should be forced. It is only necessary to state that anyone who enlists in the IDF or in civil service (Arabs) will receive all rights from the state, with additions.

And those who don't? Will not. Including everything. Passport, driver's license, allowances of all kinds, discounts, benefits, concessions, etc., as simple as that.

It will save the army, the economy, society, and the country.

The ultra-Orthodox? They will get used to it and get along. After all, the main concern behind which their leaders are raging now and stating that "even those who do not study will not enlist" is not mind control, God forbid.

It is a serious concern that some of those who will enlist will leave with a question and return from the army secular. This is an upward trend. After all, they claim that the Torah of Israel is eternal, vast, great, omnipotent, miraculous, and whatnot. And I don't disagree with them.

Our Torah has survived events such as the destruction of the Temple (twice), an exile of two thousand years, the Inquisition, countless pogroms, torture and beatings, divorces, and disasters. It survived and remains intact. And here, according to the modern version, she can't survive three years of military service?

This is nonsense, of course. It is a sector that fights for its sector. On its budgets. On the old order. But this old order cannot continue. The numbers do not add up. The data does not add up. The country simply will not survive in this order. It needs to be changed. Here and now.

Anyone who does not understand this and cooperates with a new combine whose goal is to perpetuate the previous ruse, will be recorded in the annals of the disaster it will bring upon us.

I think this is what Yuli Edelstein understands. This is what Yoav Gallant understands. This is what the few in Likud who have any symbolic vestige of a backbone understand.

Translated by Yuval Barnea.