Israel's Bennett tears into Netanyahu over army failures in Gaza war

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett launched a fierce attack on Saturday on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, accusing it of sacrificing Israel’s military capacity for political survival as the Israeli assault on Gaza grinds on.

In a post on X, Bennett condemned Netanyahu’s policy of shielding ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men from military conscription, describing the current government as "cowardly and disgraceful" for prioritising its coalition's stability over what he called "the country's needs".

He blamed the government's refusal to recruit Haredim for the Israeli army's failure to achieve its goals in Gaza, where Israel's military campaign has devastated civilian areas, destroyed hospitals, and displaced nearly the entire population.

"The stagnation in Gaza stems directly from government policy that deprives the [the army] of the main tool required for victory: fighters," Bennett wrote.

He said the army was short 20,000 soldiers at a time when "never have we needed so many troops", citing multiple fronts where Israel is escalating violence, including Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria.

Despite Israel's military unleashing relentless bombardments and a ground invasion on the besieged Gaza Strip since 7 October, it has failed to defeat Palestinian armed groups. Meanwhile, reservists - many of them civilians - have been called up for hundreds of days, leading to widespread exhaustion among Israeli forces.

Bennett criticised Netanyahu's ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies, many of whom have evaded military service themselves, accusing them of making "bombastic declarations" about occupying Gaza while simultaneously denying the army the manpower needed to continue the campaign.

Official data shows the vast majority of ultra-Orthodox draft-age men refuse to serve. Despite 18,915 draft orders sent since July, only 232 Haredi men have enlisted, including just 57 in combat roles. This comes after Israel’s High Court ruled in June 2024 that the longstanding exemption policy for religious students was illegal.

Instead of enforcing conscription, Netanyahu’s government is advancing legislation to formalise exemptions for Haredim, a move slammed by critics as an "evasion law" designed to keep the fragile coalition intact. The two ultra-Orthodox parties hold a crucial 18 seats in the Knesset and have demanded draft exemptions as a condition for continued support.

Bennett, who is positioning himself as a leading rival to Netanyahu ahead of the 2026 elections, warned that without real conscription reforms, Israel's military would continue to be overstretched, even as its war on Gaza escalates.

While Bennett's attack exposes fractures within Israel's political elite, it also underscores the entrenched support among leading Israeli figures for continuing the assault on Gaza - a military campaign that human rights organisations and UN officials have described as genocidal in scale.

Since October 2023, Israel's war has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, including tens of thousands of children. Entire neighbourhoods have been obliterated, basic services have collapsed, and famine now threatens the surviving population under Israel's ongoing siege.