[Editor’s note: This article was updated on June 9, 2024, with details of Benny Gantz’s delayed resignation]
Benny Gantz was supposed to resign from Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet on Saturday.
Last month, during a dramatic press conference, Gantz set a June 8 deadline while issuing a series of demands and scolding Netanyahu for pursuing “the path of zealots.” Some of those zealots subsequently threatened to quit Netanyahu’s right-wing government (which is to say bring it down) if he agreed to a ceasefire.
It was never entirely clear whether Gantz — who consistently polled ahead of Netanyahu among a disaffected Israeli electorate — intended to follow through on his promise, but he was compelled to cancel a news event scheduled for Saturday evening, citing “recent events.”
By “recent events” he meant the return of four Israeli hostages including 26-year-old Noa Argamani, a symbol of the October 7 atrocities. Video showing Argamani’s abduction by Hamas militants on a motorcycle was widely circulated in the days surrounding the attack. On Saturday morning, she was rescued alive and healthy along with three other hostages in what Daniel Hagari described as “a civilian neighborhood where Hamas had intentionally hidden among homes.”
The four captives were being held in two separate buildings by “armed militants,” Hagari went on to explain. They (the militants) were outgunned by Israeli forces including, apparently, a Yamam unit. If you’re unfamiliar, they’re the guys you don’t want to see if you’re — you know — a militant holding an innocent Jew at gunpoint. And Hamas did see them. The Yamam engaged Argamani’s captors in broad daylight. After a full-on gun battle waged at high noon (almost literally) they successfully extracted her and three others.
One commando, Arnon Zamora, sustained “serious” injuries in the operation and later died from his wounds. He’s a national hero as of Saturday. If that’s any consolation to what I’m sure are grieving loved ones.
It goes without saying that many Israelis were ecstatic. Again, Argamani’s a wartime icon. Her safe return counted as a big win, if not in any tactical sense then certainly from a morale perspective.
Without wanting to dampen the mood, I’m compelled to state what I assume is obvious to everyone: It’s entirely likely that Argamani could’ve been rescued days ago. Hagari described a “high-risk operation based on precise intelligence,” and said Israeli special forces spent “weeks” preparing for the operation.
Is it possible that Saturday, June 8, at 11:00 AM was the opportune time to conduct the raid? Well, sure. Anything’s possible. But it’s more likely, I think, that Netanyahu wanted to make it impossible for Gantz to resign from the war cabinet. Rescuing Argamani in the morning meant that by the time ol’ Benny got around to holding his big press event, the Israeli air waves would be the Noa Argamani show.
If that was the plan — and if you think for a second that it’s beyond Netanyahu to do something like that, I implore you to think again — it went swimmingly. For a day anyway. Argamani was everywhere, smiling and laughing as one might after being rescued from a Sunni extremist organization.
Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri called on Gantz to “retract his intention to resign.” “This is not the time for elections,” he said. Netanyahu echoed the sentiment. “I call on Benny Gantz: Do not leave the emergency government,” he wrote on social media. “Don’t give up on unity.”
But Gantz ultimately resigned anyway, announcing his exit a day later, during a Sunday evening address in Israel. “Unfortunately, Netanyahu is preventing us from advancing to the real victory,” he told the nation. “Therefore, we are leaving the emergency government with a heavy but complete heart.” The decision isn’t likely to force Netanyahu from power.
Meanwhile, the IDF’s operation in Nuseirat, where the rescue raid took place, left a trail of destruction. “The wounded and bodies of those killed… are filling the wards and corridors of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir El Balah,” The New York Times wrote. “Video from inside… show[ed] chaotic scenes as medical staff struggled to treat bloodied victims laying side by side on the floor.”
According to local officials (and yes, that means Gazan officials who might or might not be chatting with Hamas on ham radio), more than 200 Gazans are dead and 400 injured in the Nuseirat area, the site of a controversial airstrike that killed nine militants and 23 civilians at a former UN-run school earlier this week.
According to her own account as conveyed by Israeli media, Argamani was for a time held with two hostages who died in captivity, one inadvertently in an IDF strike. She apparently witnessed that incident from next door.
The same reporting suggested Argamani was with a relatively affluent Gazan family when the Yamam finally showed up to collect her. She was fed semi-regularly, didn’t see much daylight and learned some Arabic for her trouble. The family’s father, in a possible effort to convey how much worse some of the other hostages had it, told Argamani she was “blessed” to be in his household.
“I’m so emotional,” she told Netanyahu on Saturday. “It’s been so long since I heard Hebrew.”
When my three children were little, we lived in an affluent neighborhood, just north of Chicago, but still in Cook County. We lived exactly one block from a park, where we spent a lot of time because there was a fantastic little playground there, with a sandbox. It was in the sandbox, that I saw first hand, how humans treat each other when they still only have an inchoate knowledge of how they fit together with others in the sandbox.
When children want a territory in the sandbox for themselves (that another is currently occupying), or, they want the sandbox toys that belong to, and are being used by, another; they can generally be categorized in one of two ways. They gently approach the area/toys they want to share with another with the apparent hope that they will be accepted. Alternatively, they bully their way in, not hesitating to grab the toy they want and even using it as a weapon against its owner/user. This behavior pattern also applies to the child who was approached.
This is just how it works and the idea is that one’s children understand this very important truism and they wisely choose their friends. This is pretty much inherent knowledge in humans, and although my kids occasionally needed me to “protect them”, my children did not need me to help them select their friends. They were able to do that without my help.
This also applies to adults, individually, and in tribes.
“Choose a better tribe,” she told the people who aren’t allowed–by anyone–to leave their tribe.
As adults we are suppose to have learned a moral code and connect the dots to the principles of Karma. So I think your analogy does apply to many adults, but the minority who have progressed spiritually beyond childhood are more likely to understand that the behavior you describe is ultimately counterproductive.
I fear, the path to eradication of Anti-Semitism has taken a detour to Hades with the onslaught of Gaza. Much like atrocities have fueled Anti-Nazism, I think these atrocities will fuel Anti-Semitism. The kill all who are different from me crowd in Netanyahu’s camp should think about the impacts of their holy crusade. Walt has tried to make the point, but I think pointing out the impact fanning cultural hate is clearly in order. It is not a dove who stands down all the time, a hawk knows when to fight and when to stand down. I fear the gang of thugs in Tel Aviv are so blinded by their hatred that they are not properly considering the policy of a head for an eye on public opinion over the next 100 years.
The US should stop all funding to the ME. Israel is not playing nice and Hamas, who the majority of Palestinians support, wants to eradicate the Jews.
At best it is a quagmire. Many right wing in Israel want to eradicate the Palestinians. Hate reigns supreme in that part of the world.
Stopping funding will not rectify any problems or cause any problems to rectify. However pressure and that means funding to give Palestinians more say in their future can rectify problems, it is the only solution that has been proposed that is expected to dial down violence. Israel could propose workable plans but so far they find it in their best interest to not propose anything that makes the situation better. As it is they get to kill Palestinians every few years in a macbre sporting event that masquerades as all out war.
Reuters shows a video today that goes a long way towards elevating each Palestinian body to the status of Martyr. Israel will be best served by sincere efforts to avoid all Palestinian casualties from this moment forward.