Bennett backs off from anti-Netanyahu coalition
Lapid says he won’t give up trying to form gov’t
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett surrendered to pressure from the Right to not form a government with Ra’am (United Arab List) head Mansour Abbas, telling Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid the idea was off the table.
Bennett cited the recent spate of violence between Arabs and Jews in mixed cities.
“I am removing the ‘change government’ from the agenda,” Bennett said on Thursday. “A change government, with the makeup planned, cannot deal with the problems in mixed cities. These are things that cannot be done when relying on Mansour Abbas.”
Bennett said he was working on forming what he called a wide unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, New Hope leader
Gideon Sa’ar, Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz and Lapid. But sources close to Bennett said he was pessimistic that such an agreement could be reached. Bennett said he opposed going to a fifth election in two and a half years.
Lapid responded that he would not give up on his efforts to build a coalition by the time his mandate to form a government ends on June 2. He said the 20 days of his mandate that remain are “an eternity” in Israeli politics.
“Bennett is wrong,” Lapid said. “Change is not made when it is comfortable. Change is made when you believe what you are doing is correct.”
One idea raised by a source close to Bennett in a private conversation on Wednesday was a three-way rotation in the Prime Minister’s Office: first Bennett for a year and a half, then Netanyahu for two years, and then six months for Sa’ar.
The Likud praised Bennett’s “about face,” and called on Sa’ar to join him. But New Hope responded on Thursday night saying the party’s views opposing any government with Netanyahu had
years about the Iranian drone threat, including putting Iran drones on display in Washington.
The IDF said on Wednesday that it “struck a squad of terrorists operating explosive UAV launchers belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. The squad was struck while they were preparing to launch the UAV into Israeli territory.”
Israel also said on Wednesday that the Iron Dome Aerial Defense System intercepted a Hamas UAV that crossed from Gaza into Israeli territory. Israel’s Defense Ministry has said that the Iron Dome system has new capabilities, developed and made operational over the years, that make it effective against drones.
Why do drone threats matter? Because drones can carry warheads and also move slowly and may maneuver. Most of the Iranian-style drones, which are called “loitering munitions” or “kamikaze” drones, are the kind that can be programmed to fly to a certain destination and then sent on their way.
They are launched from a rail and can be transported on a truck or even a boat and launched that way. They have a propeller at the back, and gyroscope technology used in the drones for guidance links Iran to the drone exports that have gone to Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and even further afield, to be used in places like Sudan, Afghanistan, and Venezuela, according to various reports.
Iran used drones to attack the Abqaiq oil processing facilities in September 2019 that appeared to be a warning to Israel. Iran also used a drone flown from the T-4 base in Syria to attack Israel in 2018. It flew into Israeli airspace and was shot down by a helicopter. Iran also advised Hezbollah to send what Israel called a “killer drone” team to an area near the Golan in 2019. Israel struck that team.
There have been numerous drone incidents on the Lebanese border, and also several on the Syrian border. In addition, Israel’s enemies have tried to shoot down Israeli drones. In March, Israel’s IDF said “during routine IDF UAV activity over Lebanon, anti-aircraft missiles were fired toward the UAV. The aircraft was not hit and continued its mission as planned.”
Last month Israel said that troops downed a drone and located an additional drone “belonging to the Hezbollah terror organization that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli airspace.”
The IDF shot down another drone from Lebanon in January, and shot down a drone that flew from Lebanon in November. Additionally, there were drone infiltrations in July and August.
In addition, Israel said it struck a drone site in September related to Hamas in Gaza. Israel said in September 2019 that “a drone infiltrated into Israeli airspace from the Gaza Strip and dropped an explosive device on a military vehicle.”
All this points to an increasing drone capability by Hamas, and this week’s conflict has seen several references to Hamas’s UAVs.
Israel uses several terms for drones, usually calling the smaller quadcopters rakhfanim, and larger drones malatim, meaning a UAV.
The Hamas drones that resemble the Ababil will likely have a warhead on the front and some sort of guidance system. They have two sets of wings, one toward the rear and a smaller set in the front, looking similar to a flying fish with fins. They are slightly longer than an average person.
Apparently the design is relatively easy to manufacture because the Houthis have become experts at using drones to terrorize Saudi Arabia.
Some of these drones also have increasingly longer ranges. Concern in January pointed to a new drone based in Yemen among the Houthis,which had a 2,000-km. range that could reach Eilat.
Iran has long boasted that it has drones with ranges of thousands of kilometers, and Iran has said it has increased the armaments it can put on the drones. That means Iran has a drone army that combines the kind of smart munition elements that cruise missiles have. The drones can be operationalized in swarms.
Iran has also tried to copy the US Predator and Sentinel as well as other drones, adding munitions to them as has the US Reaper. However, Iran has had mixed success in this.
It also has mixed success supplying the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah or Iraq-based militias with a way to fly the drones with a live video feed or have them return to base. This means that Iran’s drones are still quite antiquated, and that its allies like Hamas possess drones that have outdated aspects.
Hamas drones are a threat because they can maneuver and fly low, but they still may be a blend between aspects of the V-1, – old Israeli drones from the 1980s – and cruise missiles. However, it is clear Iran is exporting its technology.
Iran first began using Ababils in the 1980s against Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. They were built at a HESA factory that is based on a factory that was once built by Textron, which constructed Bell 214 helicopters prior to 1979.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps today often uses the Ababil drones, and this makes sense because the IRGC’s Quds Force oversees support for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
It is believed that pro-Iran militias in Iraq have now used drones several times against US facilities. This points to a wider drone war being waged by Iran against Israel, Saudi Arabia, the US and others.
Among those was EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, who tweeted that he had a “long and honest conversation with Gabi Ashkenazi. Reaffirmed the EU’s support to Israel’s security & condemned Hamas indiscriminate firing of rockets. Important that any response avoids civilian casualties. I am reaching out to regional actors to contribute towards de-escalation.”
Ashkenazi spoke to Israeli ambassadors in what the ministry considers core locations – Europe, Arab states, the US and the UN – to discuss their next steps.
“We have to maintain space to act in an assertive and unapologetic way,” Ashkenazi said. “No country would agree to accept shooting on its capital, its parliament and its international airport while millions of its residents must spend nights in safe rooms.”
The chief goal of the Foreign Ministry and its ambassadors is to “ensure that the IDF has space to act and maneuver,” he added.
Ashkenazi said Hamas started the violence against Israel as part of a power struggle after the Palestinian Authority canceled its elections.
“They are a terrorist organization trying to take control of the Palestinian discourse and position itself among Palestinians as the defender of Jerusalem generally and the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque specifically,” said Ashkenazi. “We cannot give Hamas a victory – that is a shared interest of the international community.”
Foreign Ministry officials have expressed concern about the popularity of the narrative that the current round of violence is due to the property dispute in Sheikh Jarrah\Shimon Hatzadik in Jerusalem, a court case between private people that is often depicted as a government effort to evict Palestinians.
Ashkenazi asked ambassadors in their conversations with foreign ministers, diplomats and the media in core countries to emphasize that Israel tried to bring calm and showed restraint against Hamas and other terrorist groups, and tried to avoid a deterioration, while allowing freedom of religion.
Foreign Ministry Political Director Alon Bar explained in a briefing that diplomats are working to protect Israel’s legitimacy in striking Hamas by making three main points. First, that Hamas is indiscriminately shooting rockets at Israeli civilians, second that the onus for the escalation is on Hamas, and third, that Israel has a right to defend itself.
Israel’s ambassadors are trying to cut through the Hamas narrative that Israeli actions, especially in Jerusalem, are to blame.
They are working to get as many public statements by senior officials as possible that are in line with Israel’s messaging, and have found that, thus far, about half were.
In addition to Ashkenazi’s conversations with foreign ministers and ambassadors abroad working around the world, the Foreign Ministry has met with foreign diplomats based in Israel.
“It’s easier to talk to the ambassadors after they had to run for shelter [from rocket fire] several times,” Bar quipped.
Also on Thursday, the US objected to a request by China, Norway and Tunisia for a public, virtual meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday to discuss the worsening violence between Israel and Palestinian terrorists, diplomats said.
The US cited diplomatic efforts as the reason for the objection, saying a council discussion would not be productive, but left the door open for a possible meeting on Tuesday, the diplomats said.
The 15-member council has met privately twice this week on the worst hostilities in the region in years, but has so far been unable to issue a public statement because the US did not believe it would be helpful, diplomats said.
Such statements made by consensus. are only not changed.
Earlier on Thursday, Bennett’s No. 2 in Yamina, MK Ayelet Shaked, called for bringing the IDF into mixed cities to restore order. Bennett endorsed the idea, knowing that it would prevent a coalition with Ra’am. Shaked pushed Bennett all along to form a government with Likud rather than Lapid.
Abbas said in an interview with Army Radio on Thursday morning that the violence in the mixed cities should not end chances of forming a coalition that has the support of Jewish and Arab MKs. He said that he stopped coalition talks because they would be inappropriate at such a sensitive time, but that they would be restarted immediately after the escalation ends.
“I am not giving up on future cooperation,” Abbas said. “It could be that these incidents emphasize the need for true partnership with understanding, initiating together.”
Abbas went further, saying that a partnership of Jews and Arabs was “a goal in itself” and not merely “an instrument to something else.” The Ra’am leader said “protests are legitimate,” but must be done within the law and without harming anyone.
In an interview with Channel 12, Abbas said he would not rule out supporting direct election for prime minister.
The fighting that erupted between Israel and Hamas earlier this week has further undermined Abbas’s standing among the Palestinians, as his rivals in Hamas have become the cynosure of all eyes.
Abbas is once again being depicted by many Palestinians as an incompetent and weak leader, while Hamas leaders are being praised as heroes for carrying out their threat to fire rockets at Israel “in defense of the
Palestinians in Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque.”
In the past few days, Abbas has talked to a number of world leaders, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French President Emmanuel Macron, about the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Abbas has also chaired a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah to discuss ways of ending the Israeli “aggression” against the Palestinians in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Additionally, he has instructed Palestinian representatives around the world to step up their diplomatic efforts to exert pressure on Israel to stop its military strikes in the Gaza Strip.
But that is all Abbas can do under the current circumstances, and that is why it is not clear why any world leader would waste their time discussing with Abbas ways of ending the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Abbas has no leverage with Hamas or any of the Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. He has not set foot in the Gaza Strip since 2007, when Hamas violently seized the coastal enclave after toppling his PA regime and killing dozens of his men. His decision to delay the elections has strained his relations with Hamas and other Palestinian factions.
Moreover, Abbas and the PA are not directly involved in the Egyptian, Qatari and UN efforts to end the fighting. Instead, Hamas leaders in Qatar and Lebanon are said to be in contact with Arab and Western mediators on the possibility of reaching another truce agreement with Israel.
Aware of Hamas’s growing popularity among the Palestinians, Abbas does not even dare call on the terrorist group to stop firing rockets at Israel. In the past, Abbas used to mock Hamas’s homemade rockets, dubbing them “futile” and “harmful” to the Palestinians, especially those living in the Gaza Strip.
He is now directing his criticism only toward Israel with the hope of scoring points in the Palestinian street. But this attempt to win the hearts and minds of the Palestinians has so far proven unsuccessful.
The Palestinians are angry with Abbas because of his decision to call off the elections and his failure to assist the Palestinians in Jerusalem and in the Gaza Strip. They are also upset with him because of the continued security coordination in the West Bank between the Palestinian security forces and Israel.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas may have diverted attention from Abbas’s decision to postpone the elections, but it has also shown that he is no longer a relevant player in the Palestinian arena, particularly with regard to what happens in Gaza.
All Abbas can do now is hope that the violence does not spread to the PA-controlled areas of the West Bank. His biggest fear is that Hamas and other Palestinian factions will use the violence to undermine his rule and remove him from power. This is why he has instructed Palestinian security forces to do their utmost to prevent proHamas demonstrations from taking place in the West Bank.
Hamas may suffer severe military blows in the current fighting with Israel, but there is no underestimating the political achievements it has already gained among Palestinians and other Arabs by showering Israel with hundreds of rockets.
When the current round of fighting ends, Hamas will emerge as the biggest winner and “defender” of the Palestinians and all Arabs and Muslims. Abbas, on the other hand, will again appear as the biggest loser, a “traitor” and a “failed” leader.