Already and this is this is the Daily Oh, this is the Daily OS.
Oh, now it makes sense.
Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday, twentieth of June.
I'm Sam, I'm billy.
As The war and guards are between Israel and Hamas continues now two hundred and fifty eight days after the seventh of October attack by Hamas on Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Naanier, who has pulled the plug on his war cabinet. That's a special body formed days after the attack and charged with the responsibility of directing Israel's response.
It's yet another destabilizing blow to the leader, who is now staring at the prospect of having to call a national election, all while trying to appease influential members of his own coalition. It's a messy, complex situation, and in today's deep Dive, we're gonna try and break it all down. The first Billy. What is making headlines.
A man has been arrested after Victoria Police's bomb Response Unit responded to an emergency in Melbourne, CBD on Wednesday afternoon. Police confirmed the incident near Collin Street was not terror related and said there was no ongoing threat to the public. A thirty three year old was detained and questioned as part of ongoing investigations by Victoria Police's Arsons and Explosive Squad.
New South Wales has recorded a bird flu case following a recent outbreak in parts of Victoria. The strain detected on a poultry and egg farm in the New South Wales Hawksbury region, is difference to the Victorian strain. Authorities believe it may have spread to the property northwest of Sydney via wild birds. The farm was placed into an immediate lockdown as biosecurity and decontamination efforts continue in the
surrounding area. The state government said supermarket eggs and poultry will not be impacted.
Protesters have been accused of trying to sabotage a queer youth event in Melbourne. Organizers of the Minus eighteen Queer Formal say anti LGBTQ plus group have been registering for free tickets on the event on the sixth of July in an attempt to shut it down. Charity organization Minus eighteen hosts annual inclusive school formals for LGBTQ plus thirteen to nineteen year old in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.
And today's good news, seventy seven global charities and organizations will share in the inheritance of an Austrian German heiress. Earlier this year, thirty two year old Marlene Engelhorn announced plans to donate a forty million dollar fortune inherited from her grandmother. She set up a wealthy distribution body to help her decide where to donate the money. That group has now allocated funds towards environmental conservation, education, health, and ending poverty and homelessness.
So Sam, Earlier this week, there was one of the most significant changes to domestic Israeli politics since the beginning of this current war between Israel and Hamas in October, and that was the dissolution of Israel's Prime Minister Benji minute Enya, whose war Cabinet, which we will explain what that is in a minute. So that happened on Monday, and then in the days since, the mounting pressure on Yenya, who to resign and call a new election, has only
grown amongst citizens in Israel. Can you start by just giving us some background on why this war cabinet was established in the first place.
Sure, so this war cabinet was set up in response to the attack by Hamas on the seventh of October. I think he was about five days after that attack, so relatively quickly, so just a reminder. On that day, Hamas launched a significant assault on Israel, resulting in roughly twelve hundred deaths, that's according to YUEN data. They also captured about two hundred and forty hostages, with around one
hundred and twenty still held in Gaza. Israel responded with a declaration of war on Jamas and a bombardment of Gaza. This military response has led to a severe humanitarian crisis, with over thirty seven thou two hundred Palestinians reported killed since the conflict began. That's again according to UN data. And just to give you a sense of how severe this humanitarian crisis really is, the Yuan rights chief recently
said there has been unconscionable death and suffering. More than one hundred and twenty thousand people in Gaza, overwhelmingly women and children have been killed or injured since the seventh of October as the result of the intensive Israeli offensives.
So that kind of gives the background of why Israel set up this war cabinet, But can you tell me more about what happens once it is set up?
So this seventh of October attack happens in Israel five days later. Benjamin Natner, who deemed the circumstances so serious that it required the establishment of this unique body called a war Cabinet. The special body was meant to be this small, high level decision making group within the Israeli government, purely established to oversee its conduct in the war. And it included senior ministers and officials who were charged with
making crucial decisions regarding military activities and strategies. And I think part of the reason why they kept it so small was to make them quickly and importantly, it included people from major parties across the Israeli parliament, which is called the Knesset. So in an Australian context, almost imagine a smaller committee made up with people from both the
Labor Party and the Liberal Party. Now, at this early stage of the war, public support in Israel behind a war cabinet launching a full scale attack on Gaza was high, So seventy four percent of people, according to one poll, said they do not expect permanent peace in the region, and there was record high levels of sadness and stress according to this poll in the general population.
So this war cabinet had politicians from across the Israeli parliament who were the key figures in it though.
So the war Cabinet included obviously the Prime Minister Benjamin Nanna, who Defense Minister Joav Galant, and Benny Gantz, who is a prominent centrist politician, and Benjamin Naanna whose main political rival obviously in times where the country is not in war and they need to come together. So Ganz is a former military chief and defense minister. The cabinet was set up at the beginning to meet at a minimum once every forty eight hours, so that's quite a remarkable
cadence for this group to be meeting. There were also three observer members who participated in discussions, but they didn't have the power to make or override decisions, so in many ways they were kind of more there to consult.
So that kind of gives us the context of the last eight months and how this war Cabinet has operated. But then this week there have been two resignations, So what prompted.
That, Well, Benny Ganz and Guddy Eisencott, who's a close ally of his, resigned ultimately due to dissatisfaction with netna Who's handling of the war. It wasn't a particularly surprising move. Gantz had foreshadowed this exit a couple of weeks ago, essentially presenting Nenna Who with an ultimatum to accept his plan for the war and for Gaza or he would quit. When Nenya who didn't meet that deadline, Gans did indeed do what he said he would do, and he did quit.
In a press conference, Gance criticized the ongoing milit ty strategy in Gaza. He described it as causing a quote painful and ongoing price for Israel. Gans also said, Nenya who prevents us from moving forward to a real victory. Fateful strategic decisions are met with hesitancy and procrastination due to political considerations.
I was doing some reading before we came in here. Just again an understanding of how important Gance was for the war cabinet. The New York Times described him as one of ntenya Who's most moderate partners, and that he
helped boost the Israel government's international credibility as well. The article also said that he's also been quote one of the most prominent voices pushing for a ceasefire, which we know the international community is really pushing for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, especially in these recent weeks where it's kind of seemed like we're close but possibly not.
Yeah. Well, US President Joe Biden's come out with a clear plan and he's kind of trying to bring everyone to the table to get it in action exactly.
And within Israel's war cabinet, this person, Gance was one of the key people pushing for Israel to sign it. However, Gance had ruled out agreeing to establish an independent Palestinian state, so he did agree with Netienna, who in some areas, but protest is feared that the Israeli government's coalition will move even further to the right without Gance there, because like we said, he was more moderate exactly.
And to really get your head around what all of that means and what those implications could be, you have to understand that Benjamin Nana, whose coalition government has far right members in it that are also in Benjamin Nanya, Who's ear and so Benny Gance got up after his resignation and said that Nenya who must reject what he described as the fanatics within his government, and he warned that failing to do so could lead israel quotes to
the abyss so to Israelis, especially those who were already opposed to Benjamin Nana who. This really did provide a moment for their opposition to have a strong anchor points to it, and that kind of gave israel protests another opportunity to express their anger towards the current trajectory of the government's war strategy.
I'm interested in that point about Israeli's current views towards Nenna Who, not just the people around the table in the war cabinet, but the entire population. What do we know about how the country feels about PM Nenya who?
Well, I think it's important to first acknowledge that there's really been growing anger and opposition towards Nenya who for many years before the seventh of October. This is not a news sentiment. Nenya who has been under investigation for several years over allegations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in multiple cases, and these investigations have significantly impacted
his political career and also his public perception. Now. Opinion polls published in Israel towards the end of last year in the Mahriv newspaper shows that eighty percent of Israelis believe Nenya Who should publicly accept responsibility for the catastrophic security failures on October seven, and his approval numbers add the preferred Prime minister of Israel have continued to drop
sharply since that day. But there's also a more sinister sentiment amongst those who protest against Nnya Who, and that sentiment is that he actually doesn't want to reach a ceasefire because while Israel is in war mode, his own legal troubles are not the focus of the conversation, right, I.
Just want to recap exactly where we are. So there's growing opposition to Niya Who, particularly amongst those who are pushing for him to take a more moderate approach to the war in Gaza. And then his key political opponent, Benny Ganz, who have spoken about a lot who he formed this war cabinet with, quit So what happened after that?
So basically Nenya who was left with a smaller war cabinet, and he then decided just to dissolve the body altogether. Now, according to a government spokesperson, there was quote no longer
a need for the War Cabinet after Ganz's resignation. He mentioned that major decisions regarding the war in Gaza would now be made by Israel's main fourteen person security Cabinet, which has always been there, and that includes a broader group of senior government figures, so the Foreign Affairs Minister, the Justice Minister, and two far right members of Netna whose coalition, amongst others.
So that prediction earlier that without Gance there would be more far right members within the cabinet has proven right.
Yeah, and whilst the cabinet has changed its name, it really still does have the key responsibility. I do just want to mention that we've talked a lot about the differences between Bennigance and Benjamin Natna who, but there was also, as you alluded to, a lot of similarities. Both of them wanted to see the full eradication of Hamas from Gaza, and that's the phrase they kept using. The difference was really in how they went about achieving that mission.
Okay, So there was this War Cabinet that has now been dismantled. And then there's the Security Cabinet, which has always existed, but it's now been empowered to make the war strategy decisions. What is the difference between those.
Two Well, I think to really answer that question properly, we need to see what happens and if there's a change of strategy from the IDF in the coming weeks.
So I think the really important difference between the two cabinets, besides their name, is that one was positioned to be compromised of members across the political spectrum, and the message to the Israeli people in the establishment of that body was that this was such an important time in their history, it was such a time of existential threat that politicians on all ends of the political spectrum would come together in the name of a unified mission. But now in
the Security Cabinet, that's not the case. The Security Cabinet's core decision making group has five members from three parties, and all those parties are on the right of politics.
And what that means in reality is that Nenyahu and his right wing coalition, who includes some far right members, will have more influence over the decision making process because there is simply a different mix of people around the table, there's less diverse voices, and like you alluded to before, some experts do say that this could lead to a continuation or even an intensification of the current military strategy in Gaza, as the more moderate voices in Israeli politics
like Gance have exited the scene. Now, it's really hard to imagine what an intensification of the current military strategy would really look like, considering the state of affairs and how much destruction there's been in the past couple of months.
Yeah, I think unimaginable doesn't even begin to describe what a more aggressive strategy from Israel could look like. Now. In the days since, thousands of protests have gathered across Israel demanding an election, could we see an election in the coming months.
Yeah, These protests in the last couple of days have been really intense. It also included protesters in Jerusalem actually attending Benjamin Nanya, Who's private residence, to call for him to resign and to hold an election. Israeli police had to use water cannons to disperse the crowds that gathered near his home, and they arrested at least nine people.
Now amongst the protesters. This is really interesting are the families of some of the Israeli hostages, and they say that they're fed up with the lack of leadership and that a deal should have been struck months ago. There are still some supporters of Nenya who in Israeli society. Recent political polling puts that number at about ten percent of the population.
So far from a majority.
Though. Yeah, he would probably lose the election if there was one held tomorrow, and that's what two major polls, one from a left wing Israeli newspaper and one from a right wing Israeli newspaper showed us. So both of those polls said that Benny Gantz would be the preferred prime minister in a race between the two of them.
Is there any world in which you think that nehnya who would actually step down?
Look, I think what we do know about Nenya Who is that he's had extreme challenges in the past with various legal cases. He's lost elections before and somehow managed to return. So he's certainly not going to step aside without a fight.
We'll keep an eye on the public protests and of course on the ongoing humanitarian crisis. In Gaza. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Daily os and we'll see you again tomorrow.
My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda Bunjelung Kalkotin woman from gadigalk The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadigal people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest Rate island and nations.
We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.