Gaza "Day After" Discussion Cancelled in Cabinet Due to Pressure From the Right

The cabinet discussion set to be held yesterday evening (Thursday) on the “day after” in the Gaza Strip was cancelled and is set to take place another time, due to the pressure of rightwing parties in the coalition. It is possible this will only happen after the expanded security cabinet discusses the issue.

The limited war cabinet was supposed to begin discussions of the “day after” in the war on Gaza. This move was met with a great deal of anger among rightwing members of the coalition, with Religious Zionism chairman Betzalel Smotrich saying that his party would hold a special meeting at the Kiryah in Tel Aviv before the planned discussion.

Minister Orit Struck strongly attacked the expected discussion, arguing that “no article in the agreement between the Likud and State Camp gives the war cabinet the authority to discuss this instead of the government.” National Security Ministry Itamar Ben Gvir also argued that “the preconception cabinet was authorized to manage the maneuver, not determine policy for the day after. This is the job of the security cabinet and the discussions for the day after should be held in the security cabinet and not the preconception cabinet with Gantz.”

In the wake of this criticism, people in the Prime Minister’s entourage made clear that “the Prime Minister made it clear that on the day after, Hamas will not be in the Gaza Strip, not Hamastan and not Fatahstan. In any event, discussion of the matter will be brought to a decision of the security cabinet.”