Israel’s war cabinet suffered a major blow on Sunday as former defence minister Benny Gantz became the first member to quit over the status of the war in Gaza.
In a televised address, Mr Gantz said Benjamin Netanyahu was “preventing us from advancing toward true victory”.
He had threatened to quit last month over a lack of strategy for post-war Gaza.
Mr Gantz called for fresh elections, saying he had joined the emergency cabinet because he wanted to make a “bad government” better.
By withdrawing his party from Mr Netanyahu’s coalition, Mr Gantz has pulled the only centrist force in the government, leaving it still more reliant on hard-Right partners.
In reply, Mr Netanyahu issued a brief statement calling on Mr Gantz not to “abandon the front”. Although a blow to the Israeli prime minister, Mr Gantz’ s move does not endanger his parliamentary majority of 64 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
The former army chief said it was a “very difficult decision” to leave the government when 100,000 Israelis in the north remain displaced amid fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, soldiers are still in Gaza and dozens of hostages are held by Hamas.
“We tried to impact the direction navigating the ship in closed chambers, but the truth and reality is not so simple,” he added, warning the war “will take years”.
Mr Netanyahu appealed to his war cabinet allies: “This is the time for unity and not for division. We must remain united within ourselves in the face of the great tasks before us.”
According to a Friday poll by Israel’s Maariv newspaper, Mr Gantz’s National Unity party is gaining ground. It would reach a total of 27 seats in an election, the poll said, compared to 20 for Mr Netanyahu’s Likud.
But just a week ago a Channel 12 survey claimed Mr Netanyahu had overtaken Mr Gantz as the public’s first choice for premier. It was the first time in a year that Mr Gantz had not rated higher than Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.
Mr Gantz praised his colleague and fellow war cabinet member, Yoav Gallant the minister of defence, saying the war had boosted his admiration of the man “even in our differences”.
‘Making total victory impossible’
He said that Mr Netanyahu is making “total victory impossible” and claimed that the government needs to put the return of the hostages seized on Oct 7 by Hamas “above political survival”.
Mr Gantz joined Mr Netanyahu’s government shortly after the Hamas attack in a show of unity, helping the Right-wing coalition government under him gain credibility on the world stage after a year of anti-government protests rocked Israel.
Mr Gantz’s strong relationship with US officials, in particular, helped Mr Netanyahu keep the Biden administration largely onside. On May 18, he warned the prime minister that he would leave the government by June 8 if Mr Netanyahu did not formulate a new plan for postwar Gaza.
No plan has been tabled as the prime minister fights for political survival and continues to reiterate the war aims of both freeing the hostages and eradicating terror group Hamas from Gaza in its entirety.
The announcement was delayed by a day as the military chief let the wave of excitement over the rescue of four hostages from Gaza calm.
The war cabinet, of which Mr Gantz was one of three voting members, served to exclude the hard-Right, including national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, from strategy on the campaign in Gaza.
Mr Ben Gvir has now called to be added to it.
The post Benny Gantz becomes Israel war cabinet’s first resignation appeared first on The Telegraph.
