Israeli public governance is in 'complete and total chaos'

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00:00Pressure mounts on Israel this Tuesday over its deadly military operation in the Gaza Strip.

00:04The European Union, Britain, Japan calling for urgent action to stop famine in Gaza.

00:10Five more Palestinians have died of starvation.

00:14This brings the total killed by famine to 227.

00:17And of course, in the broader scheme of things,

00:19over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli bombardment since October 7, 2023.

00:25Meanwhile, dissent grows inside Israel over the continuation of the military operation.

00:30And this includes from families of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

00:35Elsewhere, Egypt says it's working with fellow Gaza mediators Qatar and the United States

00:39to try to broker a 60-day ceasefire as part of a renewed push to end the Israel-Hamas conflict.

00:47Let's bring in Noga Tanopolsky, our correspondent in Jerusalem, for more on the situation.

00:51Noga, good evening to you.

00:52There is, right now, a rally taking place in Tel Aviv.

00:56Tell us about that.

01:00Good evening.

01:01It's an astonishing rally.

01:03More than 400 Israel Air Force pilots, some of them retired,

01:08but many of them still serving actively in the Israeli reserves,

01:14rallying outside the headquarters of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv,

01:19calling for an end to this.

01:21And I'm quoting now to this futile war.

01:26This, of course, must be something that adds even more pressure onto Benjamin Netanyahu.

01:31That's right, Mark.

01:36It's an astonishing development at the end of a pretty dizzying few days

01:42in which ties between the Israeli defense establishment,

01:46the security establishment of the state,

01:48and Prime Minister Netanyahu's very extremist government

01:51have simply come apart in front of the public.

01:55We saw the chief of staff of the Israeli army, General Eyal Zamir,

01:59oppose the government's plans to take over the city of Gaza,

02:04to expand its war in Gaza.

02:07And since then, we've seen a concerted war directed in public against him from the government.

02:14He was denied access to meet the defense minister yesterday when he came to the minister's office.

02:22He was told that the minister was busy in another meeting.

02:26Since then, the defense minister, on behalf of the government,

02:30has said he will refuse to okay the senior appointments made by the Israeli chief of staff of the army,

02:39as generations of chiefs of staff have made before him.

02:42And this is now, mid-war, an open declaration of war

02:46between the country's civilian authorities and its army.

02:51Similarly, we've seen other steps taken today

02:54which have led to this astonishing protest we see now

02:58in which the Israeli Air Force pilots are saying,

03:03we support the chief of staff, we support an end to this war,

03:06and we oppose the government's moves.

03:09And does this really put the type of pressure on Netanyahu

03:12that could see him actually ousted from his position?

03:16Because clearly, as the political discord grows,

03:20as discord among the military grows,

03:21and of course it's already there among certain aspects of the population,

03:25it must be pointing towards the exit for Netanyahu, surely?

03:30Well, logic would dictate that, absolutely.

03:34And yet, I have to tell you, we don't see it happening.

03:36I mean, it's really a difficult-to-describe situation.

03:40Prime Minister Netanyahu at this point leads a minority government.

03:43He counts with the support of only 49 out of 120 members of the Knesset.

03:49But some of those who've abandoned his government

03:51will still refuse to vote in a non-confidence motion against him

03:56because they are holding on, each one of them, to their seat of power.

04:00And because of the unpopularity of this Prime Minister and of this government,

04:05they are reluctant to the point of absolute refusal to oust him.

04:11So we're in a situation right now, today,

04:13in which the Justice Minister locked the Attorney General out of her office.

04:18She's the Chief Judicial Officer of the country.

04:21She's the Chief Prosecutor in Netanyahu's corruption trial.

04:24We've seen the Finance Minister of the country say, quote,

04:28that he has lost confidence in the Prime Minister,

04:32but refusing to resign, again, holding on to power.

04:36And so the country, in terms of its public governance,

04:39is right now in a situation of complete and total chaos.

04:43And so, thank you very much.

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