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00:00 In other news we're following for you, Antony Blinken back in Israel, the eighth trip to
00:04 the Middle East for the U.S. Secretary of State since the start of the war in Gaza.
00:08 Beginning in Egypt, it comes as a Washington-sponsored ceasefire resolution comes up later in New
00:14 York for a vote at the U.N. Security Council, with Hamas so far sticking to its call for
00:18 a full withdrawal of Israel from Gaza.
00:21 Blinken insisting that Israel's accepted, he says, the deal, and Arab states should
00:25 press Palestinian militants to do the same.
00:29 If you want a ceasefire, press Hamas to say yes.
00:34 If you want to alleviate the terrible suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, press Hamas to say
00:40 yes.
00:41 If you want to get all the hostages home, press Hamas to say yes.
00:45 Israel has accepted the proposal.
00:47 In fact, they were critical in putting it forward.
00:51 So the only party-
00:52 Is this a-
00:53 No, that is what the official position of the Israeli government, the prime minister.
00:59 So the only party that has not accepted, the only party that's not said yes is Hamas.
01:06 For more, let's cross to Jerusalem and journalist and analyst Noga Tarnopolsky.
01:12 Thank you so much for speaking with us here on France 24.
01:15 Good afternoon.
01:17 Before I ask you about what's been a tumultuous 24 hours in Israeli politics, just your comment
01:23 on the messaging of Antony Blinken, saying Israel's accepted the proposal, now it's time
01:27 for Hamas to do the same.
01:30 Well that's been the US messaging for a good 10 days now, from that odd Friday night when
01:38 American President Joe Biden announced what he called the Israeli proposal.
01:43 The Israeli government has never denied that, despite the clear feeling, especially in the
01:48 last few days, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is possibly trying to back away
01:53 from it.
01:54 But it's never been denied.
01:56 It's never been denied, and so far Hamas is not accepting it.
02:00 So he may get off the hook once again, Netanyahu.
02:06 How about what happened with Benny Gantz, finally making good, leaving that coalition
02:10 war cabinet and quitting it just after the raid to free those four Israeli hostages.
02:21 Is that a problem, or is that something good for Benjamin Netanyahu?
02:29 It's both.
02:31 It's both.
02:33 The two members of the war cabinet, Benny Gantz and his partner Gadi Eisenkot, both
02:40 of them former chiefs of staff of the army, were very good for Netanyahu, because first
02:46 of all they provided him with military experience nobody else in his government comes close
02:51 to having.
02:52 Secondly, they provided him with diplomatic cover, because they are considered stable
02:58 and sane compared to most of the rest of his cabinet.
03:03 And thirdly, they gave him a very easy excuse.
03:07 Whenever he didn't want to take a step proposed or even demanded by the rest of his cabinet
03:13 that is very extremist, he could always blame it on them when he said no.
03:19 So he's lost all of that now.
03:21 On the other hand, he's now free of those shackles and can probably do more or less
03:28 whatever he determines he wants to do.
03:32 He's got, the magic number in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is 64 seats, 61 seats,
03:38 excuse me.
03:39 He has 64.
03:42 Is that the way things are going to stand, or could there be some kind of a wild card
03:46 from within his own party, I'm thinking most specifically of his defense minister?
03:51 We heard in Gantz's speech him making distinct overtures to Yoav Galant.
03:59 That's right.
04:00 He made a direct, very personal, almost really passionate plea to defense minister Yoav Galant,
04:06 a guy who hoped to become chief of staff of the army and never made it, and kept kind
04:12 of a chip on his shoulder.
04:13 And yet today he is really the only experienced military person in the entire Netanyahu government.
04:22 And he has taken a lot of fire from his own camp because he has been unwilling on several
04:28 crucial occasions to put the army or the nation in danger for Netanyahu's political plans.
04:38 So today is another one of those days, and that is what Gantz was aiming at.
04:43 Tonight at around midnight there is a vote.
04:47 The Israeli government is forced by the Supreme Court to pass a law determining one way or
04:53 another what is the draft status for ultra-Orthodox Jews.
04:59 Now ultra-Orthodox parties are a crucial part of the Netanyahu coalition, and they've pushed
05:05 to keep and even increase a full draft exemption for all of their young people.
05:12 Every other 18-year-old in Israel goes to the army.
05:14 They don't.
05:16 So that's been pushed, and Galant is going to vote no.
05:20 So anything could happen even tonight.
05:22 Netanyahu could fire him, and that would probably cause mass protests all over Israel the way
05:28 it happened last time Netanyahu tried to fire him.
05:32 He could somehow, you know, take the ultra-Orthodox side but pretend he's not.
05:38 Or the ultra-Orthodox, if they feel that Netanyahu is slipping out of their hands, they could
05:42 leave the government tonight or at some point in the next few weeks.
05:46 All this said, the situation is very volatile, and yet all of these parties have a real interest
05:51 in sticking by Netanyahu and staying in power.
05:54 And that's what has held this government together, despite having presided over the worst catastrophe,
06:03 the worst security catastrophe in the history of this nation.
06:06 Is there, sitting in Jerusalem on this Monday evening, is there the sense that this is a
06:12 forever war?
06:16 I wouldn't say there's a sense that it's a forever war, but there's a sense that is reflected
06:21 also in polls that show 80 percent of Israelis believe Netanyahu and his government have
06:28 no plan to end the war.
06:30 So there's a feeling of suffocation.
06:34 There's a lot of identification with the families of hostages still held in Gaza.
06:39 There are a growing number of signs at the protests to free the hostages and the protests
06:45 for a new election.
06:46 There are kind of, there's a growing proportion calling simply for an end to the war.
06:52 So all of that is in there.
06:54 Today, like every other day, there are very significant protests, thousands of protesters
06:59 against this government on the streets.
07:02 Andrea Tarnopovsky, many thanks for being with us from Jerusalem.
07:04 Thank you.
07:05 Stay with us.
07:07 There's much more to come on France 24.
07:09 More news plus the day's business and sports.
07:12 [Music]