Education Minister and New Right party chairman Naftali Bennett on Sunday asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to compel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene the Political-Security Cabinet as soon as possible to discuss Israel’s policy toward Gaza, Israeli media reported.
“It doesn’t make sense that the prime minister is running events in Gaza by compartmentalizing cabinet ministers,” Bennett wrote.
Media reports have suggested in recent weeks that the main reason Netanyahu is not assembling his cabinet has to do with Bennett’s vehement attacks on the PM/DM’s security policy, as part of Bennett’s campaign to inherit the defense portfolio.
Bennett’s letter to Mandelblit states that he asked the prime minister’s military secretary and the head of the National Security Council to convene the cabinet meeting, but was ignored.
“It is not reasonable in my view that the management of security events of such significance, including the progress towards a permanent or temporary settlement, is being carried out by the prime minister and the defense establishment only, without input from the political-security cabinet ministers, who bear responsibility under the law.”
Bennett detailed the recent events in the Gaza Strip and the Hamas involvement, including the launching of rockets into the Dan region, the direct attack on a home in Moshav Mishmeret, the launching of barrages into the southern communities, and the Saturday demonstrations in the Gaza Strip.
“Throughout all of this, the State of Israel has acted only in a localized manner that does not produce the necessary deterrence against Hamas actions intended to harm the security of Israeli citizens,” Bennett wrote, and complained that “according to media reports, the Israeli government is in advanced negotiations to advance a settlement with Hamas.”
