Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said today (Tuesday) in a conversation with the leadership of the Hagvura Forum (Heroism Forum) that the State of Israel will not control the Gaza Strip the day after the war with Hamas.
Gallant said, "The day after we establish an alternative governing system in Gaza, not in the hands of Israel but in the hands of the Palestinians who are against Hamas and who today are afraid and avoid like for example Mohammed Dahlan, no other country will come here."
Itzik Buntzel, the father of Amit Buntzel, an IDF soldier who fell in combat in northern Gaza, strongly criticized Gallant's remarks. "You are leading us to Oslo 2, di our children fall in vain? We will again sacrifice our grandchildren in Gaza in 20 years when you arm the Palestinians again with weapons. Have we learned nothing from the past? How can a minister of defense in a right-wing government say such a thing?"
Gallant later referred to the war in the north, "In Lebanon, we have no territorial intentions, rather this is about how much damage they have caused us and we will cause them, so far our successes are amazing."
He said, "Victory as far as I'm concerned is to meet the goals of the war. It does not mean defeating the enemy, in no war did this happen, neither in the Six Day War nor in the Yom Kippur War."
At the meeting, he referred to the conflict between himself and Prime Minister Netanyahu: "There are those who were in the United States when I fought in Lebanon. I am not concerned with what people think of me, I am only concerned with the goals of the war. Those who are involved in mudslinging, that is their problem."
Gallant said, "They are trying to present me as a fan of the Palestinian Authority and s someone who loves terrorists. While there were people sitting in America, I eliminated Abu Jihad."