«Israeli» Lawmakers Slam Bibi for «Losing Grip on Security, Deterrence»

By Staff, Agencies

“Israeli” lawmakers from across the political spectrum slammed the entity’s Prime Minister on Monday morning after a rocket fired from Gaza during the night hit a house in the entity’s central region.

Both, rivals and allies of “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed against what they described as a weak and ineffective response to ongoing situation from the Gaza Strip. In a blistering attack on the premier he hopes to replace in April’s election, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz said that Netanyahu had “lost his grip on security.”

So-called Economy Minister Eli Cohen, a member of the Kulanu party, said in a statement, “Restoring the deterrence will be done by again sending the Hamas and Jihad chiefs underground,” criticizing previous “Israeli” responses to rocket fire which have focused on Hamas infrastructure, rather than its leadership.

“Not [hitting] rocket factories, abandoned buildings, or sand dunes — only preemptive assassinations which make it clear that anyone who gives an order to fire at ‘Israel’ is dead. That is the policy that I will support when the cabinet meets,” Cohen said.

The entity’s Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev, a close ally of Netanyahu, appeared to suggest “Israel’s” response will target Hamas leaders.

She said in a statement, “We’ll chase them down wherever they may be. As I have been saying for two years now, we must return to the policy of targeted assassinations.”

In a statement issued from Washington where both he and Netanyahu are currently visiting, Gantz said that the attack on the Sharon region was the latest example in an escalating security situation which, he claimed, the regime has failed to address sufficiently.

“Netanyahu has lost his grip on ‘Israel’ security and ‘Israeli’ citizens are again experiencing sirens and a direct hit on a house,” the former “Israeli” Occupation Forces [IOF] chief of staff said, calling on Netanyahu to cut short his US trip and return to “Israel” to deal with the situation, a move that the primer announced minutes later.

“There is a security bankruptcy and Netanyahu needs to pack up immediately and go back to ‘Israel’ to deal with this serious escalation,” Gantz said.

Separately, Netanyahu is also facing indictments, pending a hearing, in three corruption cases.

Gantz’s number two in the Blue and White party, MK Yair Lapid also accused Netanyahu, who is also war minister, of being too preoccupied with other matters to attend to the security of the country.

“I am in favor of a responsible and considered policy, but this is not a balanced policy,” Lapid wrote on his Facebook page. “Netanyahu simply does not respond. He is too busy with other matters and ‘Israel’ has lost its deterrence.”

Former war minister Moshe Ya’alon, who is third on the Blue and White slate, said “Netanyahu has lost our security,” calling for “a strong, experienced and responsible leadership that will restore security .”

Criticism was also heard from Netanyahu’s ostensible allies on the right.

The New Right party, led by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who is hankering for the war portfolio, said in a statement that “Israel’s deterrence has collapsed, and it has to be said in all honesty, Netanyahu has failed against Hamas.”

Bennett said that Netanyahu is a “good prime minister but a failed ‘defense’ [war] minister. The time has come to appoint Bennett as ‘defense’ [war] minister in order to defeat Hamas.””

Rafi Peretz, leader of the Union of Right Wing Parties alliance echoed Gantz in saying “Israel’s” response to over a year of border violence with Gaza has been too soft.

In his statement he explained that a policy that allows incendiary balloons to threaten “Israeli”-occupied territories, allows Palestinian groups to fire missiles at Tel Aviv and the central region.

Bucking the trend, the left-wing Meretz party said in a statement that “There is no military solution to Gaza.”

“At the end of the day, deteriorating into an all-out conflict is not an Israeli interest and we must not be dragged there, it would only mean more fatalities and injuries and at the end a return to the same point,” adding that it is the non-military individuals in the entity who are paying the price of the Netanyahu regime’s avoidance of diplomatic negotiations.