Former Israeli Prime Minister: Only 'a few weeks' left to destroy Hamas
(Baonghean.vn) - Speaking to Politico, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that Western support for military operations in Gaza would "evaporate" when public opinion turned against it.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said the Israeli military had only weeks to destroy Hamas before Western governments reduced support for operations in Gaza.
“Listen to public opinion – and behind closed doors it is a little clearer,” said the 81-year-old former defense minister and general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“We are losing public opinion in Europe and in a week or two we will start losing governments in Europe,” Barak said, as reported by Politico on November 7. “And a week after that, the conflict with the Americans will be evident,” he predicted.
US officials have supported a so-called “humanitarian pause” in Gaza, but have not publicly threatened to withdraw Washington’s support. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has refused to end hostilities. Mr. Barak believes Israel will have to “accept the US demands within the next two or three weeks, maybe less.”
“You can see the door is closing. It is clear that we are moving towards a conflict with the Americans over the attack. The Americans cannot dictate to Israel what to do. But we cannot ignore them,” he commented.
However, the former general believes it will take months, or even a year, for the IDF to push Hamas out of Gaza. Israel has made it its primary goal to destroy the Palestinian militant group after it killed hundreds of civilians in an attack a month ago.
As part of its strategy, the IDF has bombarded Gaza. Gaza officials reported that the death toll in the Palestinian enclave had exceeded 10,000 as of November 6.
Fresh evidence of a shift in attitudes in Europe also emerged on November 6, when Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo criticized Israel's military tactics.
“Bombing a refugee camp with the aim of killing one terrorist, I don't think one can say that is proportionate,” Prime Minister De Croo said.
Last week, the IDF attacked several Palestinian refugee camps, including the large Jabalia settlement in northern Gaza, which Israel has declared an evacuation zone. Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht described civilian casualties from Israeli attacks as a “tragedy of war” in an interview with CNN host Wolf Blitzer last week.
Mr. Barak served as prime minister from 1999 to 2001 and represented his country at the US-brokered Camp David Summit in 2000 along with Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
