Experts say Netanyahu could now be forced to rely more heavily on his right-wing partners.
Jerusalem:
Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Sunday, increasing domestic pressure on the Israeli leader as the war rages in Gaza.
The former general and defense minister announced his resignation from the emergency agency after failing to get a post-war plan for Gaza approved by Netanyahu, which he demanded in May.
The centrist politician’s departure is not expected to topple the government, a coalition that includes religious and ultra-nationalist parties, but it marks the first major political blow for Netanyahu, eight months after the Gaza war against Palestinian Hamas militants.
Experts say Netanyahu could now be forced to rely more heavily on his right-wing partners.
Gadi Eisenkot, also a former army leader and member of Gantz’s party, followed him out of the war cabinet, leaving the body with only three members. The war cabinet makes all important decisions about the conflict.
“Netanyahu is preventing us from moving towards real victory. That is why we leave the emergency government today with a heavy heart,” Gantz said.
“I call on Netanyahu: set an agreed election date. Let not our people be torn apart.”
The Israeli Prime Minister responded within minutes, saying, “Benny, this is not the time to stop fighting – this is the time to join forces.”
Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both also reacted quickly to Gantz’s resignation.
Ben Gvir said he had “made a demand” for Netanyahu to join the war cabinet.
Smotrich denounced Gantz, saying, “There is no less stately act than resigning from a government in time of war,” and as “those abducted are still dying in the Hamas tunnels.”
The campaign group Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the country “will not forgive the leaders who abandon the hostages”. Gantz apologized to the prisoners’ families, adding “we failed the results test.”
On Saturday, hours after Israeli forces rescued four hostages from Gaza, Netanyahu had urged Gantz not to resign.
Gantz, who turned 65 on Sunday, was seen as a favorite to form a coalition in the event that Netanyahu’s government was overthrown and early elections were called.
His centrist National Union Party introduced a bill last week to dissolve the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and hold early elections.
– Hostage ‘priority’ –
The former army chief, one of Netanyahu’s main rivals before joining the war cabinet, had repeatedly called on Israel to reach an agreement to secure the release of all hostages and make it a “priority”.
Since a week-long ceasefire in November that saw the release of dozens of hostages, Israel has failed to reach further agreement and has continued its fierce military campaign in Gaza.
“Israel clearly hasn’t made it a priority, so that was kind of the first big breakthrough when Gantz indicated he was going to leave,” said political analyst Mairav Zonszein.
While Netanyahu’s government faces no threat of collapse, Gantz’s departure leaves it losing the only “moderate element” in the overall coalition, she said.
“Netanyahu will only stick with the far-right ministers, and it remains to be seen what role they will play.”
Netanyahu is already under increasing pressure from his far-right coalition allies, who have threatened to quit the government if he goes ahead with a hostage release deal that US President Joe Biden outlined last month.
Ben Gvir and Smotrich have insisted that the government should not make any deal and continue the war until the goal of destroying Hamas is achieved.
The coalition governs with a narrow majority of 64 of the 120 seats in the Israeli parliament and is dependent on far-right votes.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 41 who the army says are dead.
At least 37,084 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military retaliatory offensive, according to the Israeli Health Ministry.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
