Israeli ground troops had already entered Gaza when Meretz Party Chairwoman Zehava Gal-On was asked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu what she would do in his place. She immediately answered that she would never have gotten into this situation in the first place, because she would have given the Palestinian unity government a chance. She believes that if that had happened, the current escalation could have been avoided.
The meeting between Netanyahu and the left-wing Meretz Party leader, who's calling for a unilateral cease-fire with Hamas, took place July 18. All in all, the mood was friendly. The meeting was intended to update Gal-On about the current situation, something which Netanyahu, as the prime minister, is not obligated to do. Nevertheless, despite all the security issues on his desk, Netanyahu set aside time that morning to meet with the other leaders of the opposition parties, including Gal-On, Shas Party Chairman Arieh Deri and Kadima Party Chairman Shaul Mofaz. By meeting with them, Netanyahu apparently wanted to bolster the political consensus about the ground incursion into Gaza, even among the opposition parties.
The previous two Meretz leaders, Yossi Beilin and Chaim Oron, stood by the government from the depth of the opposition and supported the ground assault. Beilin did so during Ehud Olmert's tenure as prime minister for the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Oron (“Jumes”) supported Ehud Olmert during Operation Cast Lead in 2008. But Gal-On refused to grant similar backing. True, in the early days of the operation she praised the prime minister to the media for his moderate security approach.
In a conversation with Al-Monitor, she reiterated what she told Netanyahu: “'Mr. Prime Minister,' I said, 'I would not have reached this point, because I would have embarked on a diplomatic process with the Palestinians. I would have carried through with the fourth prisoner release.' I emphasized that he’s about to make a big mistake by launching a ground operation, and I said to him, ‘There are two reasons that you are about to enter Gaza. The first is Hamas, and the second is [Ministers] Bennett and Liberman. You failed to stand up to their pressure.’
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