Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a political backlash in Israel for the limited nature of Sunday's airstrikes against Hezbollah amid calls for broader action in Lebanon.
Some of the harshest criticism came from the far-right wing of the prime minister's breakaway coalition, which is also increasingly divided over the status of Jerusalem's holiest site.
Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket and drone launches were the biggest cross-border engagements since the two sides went to war in 2006. Three Hezbollah and coalition fighters were killed and one Israeli sailor was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli interceptor.
Israel's Defense Minister Yves Gallant claimed that strikes earlier Sunday morning prevented Hezbollah from firing two-thirds of the rockets it intended to fire at Israel. Israel also claimed to have shot down almost all incoming Hezbollah drones.
Netanyahu issued a warning that the airstrikes would not be “the end of the story,” but Israeli press reports cited military sources as saying there was no planned pursuit.
The prime minister was widely blamed from the center and right of the political spectrum on Monday for the limited targeting of Sunday's airstrikes, which disrupted a planned Hezbollah airstrike but did nothing. to allow up to 80,000, critics said. Residents of northern border towns, displaced from northern Israel since October, to return to their homes.
In a show of solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, representatives of the population displaced by Hezbollah bombings have said they will boycott meetings with government representatives, accusing the coalition of defending central Israel. has been given priority but not the North.
Ben Caspet, a columnist for the center-right Mario newspaper, wrote: “For almost a year, the Galilee has been destroyed, ruined and set on fire. Tens of thousands of Israelis have been driven from their homes. And the entire The country, which was considered a regional superpower not long ago, has been humiliated.” He said Netanyahu chose the most cautious of the military options presented by his generals.
“It stopped and disrupted one of Hezbollah's operational plans, but it didn't change our strategic situation in the northern theater,” Kaspit said, adding that “a massive air campaign will be launched” to top Conditions could be created to allow the residents of Galilee. to return to their homes and to allow Israel to restore its sovereignty over its own land.
Benny Gantz, a retired general, former minister in Netanyahu's coalition and one of his main rivals, described the airstrikes as “too little, too late.”
In a video statement during a visit to northern communities, he said: “We must continue to take advantage of this initiative and increase political and military pressure to remove Hezbollah, so that northerners can safely return to their homes.” can go.”
Netanyahu's far-right National Security Minister Atmar Ben Guerr also joined in the criticism.
“Israel must not be satisfied with a single, preemptive liquidation. We must wage a decisive war against Hezbollah that will remove the threat in the north and allow its residents to return safely to their homes.” Ben Gower said.
He fired Gallant for corruption. The national security and defense ministers are locked in a bitter public dispute over government policy, particularly over the status of the holy compound around the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock, which Jews call the Temple Mount.
Ben-Goverr has campaigned to maintain Israel's policy at the site since the capture of East Jerusalem in 1967, that only Muslims are allowed to pray in the compound, while Jews pray at the Western Wall. will pay
Ben Guerre violated that policy when he led Jewish prayers there last month and told Army Radio on Monday that Jews had the same status as Muslims.
“Policies on the Temple Mount allow prayer, period,” he said. “It is a directive that there should be equal law between Jews and Muslims.”
He added that if it were up to him, there would be an Israeli flag and a synagogue on the Temple Mount.
The prime minister's office issued a statement saying there had been no change to the status quo at the site, and other coalition members criticized Ben Guerre for inflammatory rhetoric, which he warned against. Is it responsible for inciting rebellion and anger among the Palestinians? The wider Arab world
“Undermining the status quo on the Temple Mount is an unnecessary and irresponsible act,” Gallant said. Ben-Gover's actions are putting Israel at risk.
Interior Minister Moshe Erbel, from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, called on Ben Guerre to strip him of his authority over the police, warning: “His lack of wisdom can cost lives.”