Sderot Deputy Mayor Elad Kalimi voiced harsh criticism of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's decision to move the military's main concentration to the northern front while the war in the south is still ongoing. Kalimi claims that the decision exhibits a lack of will to win the war in Gaza.
"I'm not a military tactics expert, but I feel and many others in Sderot feel that Gallant gave up on victory, and maybe from the start didn't 100% want to win," Kalimi says in an interview with Arutz Sheva-Israel Nationa News. He adds: "When you want to win, you hit the enemy again and again and increase intensity."
Kalimi claims that the decision to allow Gazans to move to the northern Gaza Strip endangers the residents of Sderot and the Gaza envelope. "The return of Gazans to the north will have a clear price on security in Sderot and the Gaza envelope. It is clear and you do not need to be a big strategist," he emphasized.
He says that the military echelon makes considerations that are not military considerations. "In any normal country, the military echelon is supposed to push through a will to fight and operate militarily," states Kalimi and adds: "Here roles are switched, the military makes economic and diplomatic considerations, while the political echelon asks the military to listen to military strategies."
Kalimi even attacked the military leadership for not concentrating on total victory. "If you concentrate on victory, you can do it just from the air, with commandos or any other way, as long as you're concentrating on this direction," he says.
The Deputy Mayor finishes by proposing to change the military leadership if can not succeed at winning. "Those who for 30 years have been deeply rooted in the notion that there's no such thing as victory, only attrition and inter-war campaigns, it could be that they are convinced that there is no such thing as victory and therefore they don't want to win. I am allowed to suspect when I see that after ten months they haven't won. If you don't know how to win, give back the keys and they'll bring others who do know how."