Committee Chair MK Edelstein said at the start of the meeting of the ‘Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee‘ this Monday, ““The incident in which a flash bomb was thrown at the Prime Minister’s house is a grave incident, which is now under investigation. If it becomes apparent that people were involved in the incident who had a background in the security organizations—I expect them to receive no leniency from one agency or another, and for the matter to be handled with full severity.”
The following points arose in the classified debate, and have been cleared for publication:
At the start of the debate, Prime Minister MK Netanyahu said that while the campaign is being waged on seven fronts, it has one source—Iran. He stated that Iran’s objective was the destruction of the State of Israel, based on three components: The axis, the missiles and the nuclear weapon they are working to obtain. In his briefing, the Prime Minister elaborated on the actions that [Israel] plans to take regarding each of these three components.
The Prime Minister said that we are systematically dismantling the axis. He described the development of the events since October 7, the decision-making procedure and the different voices that arose in the Political-Security Cabinet during the campaign.
Prime Minister MK Netanyahu said that we have made a great deal of progress in eliminating Hamas’s military capability, but only partial progress in eliminating Hamas’s governmental capabilities. He said that Hamas still controls the main thing, which is the distribution of food and humanitarian aid, and that the possibility was being advanced of having international elements guard the food distribution.
Regarding the second branch of the axis, Hezbollah, the Prime Minister said that when we achieved results in the south, the decision was made to focus the effort on the north. Here too, Prime Minister MK Netanyahu described in detail the decision-making procedure at each stage of the campaign, the considerations that were on the agenda and the different voices heard in the Political-Security Cabinet.
The Prime Minister updated the committee members about the negotiations being conducted with the United States, which is trying to create conditions for an arrangement, and made it clear that [the negotiations] were being held under fire. He said that Israel’s basic conditions were pushing Hezbollah away from the border, maintaining Israel’s freedom of action, and cutting off the oxygen line through the Syrian border to prevent future armament.
As for the missiles, which constitute the second component of Iran’s destruction plan, the Prime Minister described the decision-making procedure in the Israeli response to the two missiles attacks from Iran and elaborated on the targets that were hit.
Prime Minister MK Netanyahu clarified that the decision to refrain from striking certain targets was not the result of an American ultimatum, but rather a decision we made ourselves. The Prime Minister also addressed the third component, preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and said that our ability to act against these three threats would be examined shortly with the incoming administration in Washington.
Prime Minister MK Netanyahu commented on the negotiations for bringing back the hostages and rejected the reports that he had prevented a deal. He noted that the Americans had also made it clear recently that the only real obstacle had been and remained Hamas, and said that this was contrary to reports that there was a deal on the table.
He explained that the conditions posed by Hamas were a pullout of IDF troops from the Gaza Strip and international guarantees that the warfare would not be renewed and that [Hamas] would remain in power in Gaza.
The Prime Minister said that these conditions were unacceptable to him and to a majority of the Political-Security Cabinet, and said that in his assessment [they were unacceptable] also to a majority of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee members. He stated that if Israel were to accept these conditions, the next round would be only a matter of time.
The Prime Minister noted that talks were being held, that the possibility of small deals was being examined and that it had been proposed to anyone who freed a hostage to receive a financial reward and safe passage for themselves and their family.
Prime Minister MK Netanyahu stated that the voices from within accusing the political echelon of blocking the negotiations were false and harmful to the efforts to free the hostages. He said that it was important to display a uniform front and that Hamas would not be flexible while it heard voices within us that were willing to end the war. He said that consent to end the war would constitute a victory for Hamas and for the Iranian axis, that the effort to reach a deal existed and had to fit in with the goals of the war, and that this was possible.
The Prime Minister was asked by the committee members about the draft bill and replied that we would like everyone who is not studying to take part in bearing the burden. He said that at present there was a gap between [the army’s needs and] what the army says it can receive, and for this reason, the army’s capacity needs to be expanded.
The Prime Minister said that there was an intention to create frameworks that would enable [soldiers] to maintain a Haredi lifestyle and provide a response to an operational need, for example, forming a Haredi brigade that would hold bases along the border with Jordan.
He added that there were additional measures that should be taken to ease the burden, such as calling up for reserve duty people who had not yet been called, extending the regular service and more. The Prime Minister said that there was no intention to leave out any population group.
After the briefing, Prime Minister MK Netanyahu replied to questions from the committee members, dealing with issues such as the relationship with the Americans in light of the change of government and preparations for the interim period, the effect of the assassination of [Yahya] Sinwar on the Gaza theatre, international public diplomacy, the day after in the Gaza Strip, and more.”
Based on the press release of the Knesset (18.12.2024). Selected as relevant/shortened by VonNaftali. Pic by AI. Symbolic.