Moderate politician Benny Gantz resigns from
Israeli war cabinet
Move does not immediately pose a threat to Benjamin
Netanyahu, but PM will now be more reliant on far-right allies
Bethan
McKernan in Jerusalem
Sun 9 Jun
2024 21.42 BST
The Israeli
politician and former military chief Benny Gantz has followed through on a
threat to resign from Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet, leaving the
prime minister more reliant than ever on far-right elements of his coalition
government.
Gantz, a
major Netanyahu rival, former defence minister and leader of the centre-right
National Unity party, joined the three-man war cabinet as a minister without
portfolio in the aftermath of Hamas’s 7 October attack, a move he said was for
the sake of the country’s unity.
But as
Israel’s war effort in Gaza dragged on, disagreements over strategy and how
best to bring the 250 Israeli hostages home spilled into the open, culminating
in Gantz accusing the prime minister of pushing strategic considerations such
as a hostage deal aside for his own political survival. Last month, he gave
Netanyahu an ultimatum of 8 June to present concrete “day after” plans for the
Gaza Strip.
Gantz
delayed his resignation speech by a day after the unexpected rescue of four
Israeli hostages in an operation that the health ministry in Gaza said killed
274 people and injured another 696. The withdrawal of his party also means Gadi
Eisenkot, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) general and war cabinet observer, and
the minister without portfolio, Chili Tropper, are also stepping down.
“Netanyahu
is preventing us from progressing towards a true victory,” Gantz said in a
televised address on Sunday night. “For this reason we are leaving the
emergency government today, with a heavy heart, yet wholeheartedly.”
Gantz also
called on Netanyahu to set a date for elections, adding: “Do not let our nation
tear apart.”
The move
does not immediately pose a threat to Netanyahu, as the prime minister still
controls a majority coalition in parliament. It does, however, affect the
Israeli government’s respectability on the international stage; centrist Gantz
is well liked in Washington, where he was seen as a useful brake on Netanyahu,
and his absence means the prime minister’s far-right allies are likely to now
have more sway over the trajectory of the war in Gaza and the growing threat of
war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Bezalel
Smotrich, the far-right finance minister, slammed Gantz, saying “there is no
less stately act than resigning from a government in time of war” as “the
kidnapped are still dying in the Hamas tunnels”, and the extremist national
security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has already asked Netanyahu for Gantz’s
seat on the war cabinet. Both ministers have repeatedly threatened to withdraw
from the coalition if Israel makes any concessions to Hamas in a hostage and
ceasefire deal.
Netanyahu
took to X in the wake of Gantz’s announcement, saying that this is the time to
“join forces” rather than quit.
Israel’s
opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said: “Gantz and Eisenkot’s decision to leave
the failed government is important and correct.
“The time
has come to replace this extreme and reckless government with a sane government
that will lead to the return of security to the citizens of Israel, to the
return of the abducted, to the restoration of Israel’s economy and
international status,” he added.
Netanyahu
and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, are the only two remaining members of
the war cabinet, and also often do not see eye to eye. The prime minister is
now said to be considering shuttering the war cabinet and reverting to a former
model in which security issues are first discussed in a limited forum before
being presented to regular cabinet meetings, in which he seeks ministerial
approval.
The
longtime prime minister, facing corruption charges as well as scrutiny over the
security failures that led to 7 October, is widely believed to see staying in
office as his best chance of escaping prosecution. He also needs to parry an
internal challenge from the two ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition over
the issue of military conscription.
Like many
top Israeli commanders, Gantz, 65, entered politics in 2018 after a career in
the military, announcing a new party with the explicit goal of ending
Netanyahu’s grip on Israeli politics. He had been viewed as a favourite to lead
a new coalition in the event that the government collapses and early elections
are called, although he has slipped in the polls in recent months.
His
National Union party submitted a bill last week to dissolve parliament and hold
early elections.
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