Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, has resigned from Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration, dealing a blow to the prime leader who has been rejoicing over the unusual release of captives held in Gaza.
In a broadcast statement on Sunday, Gantz said, “Netanyahu prevents us from moving forward to a real victory [in Gaza].” He also described quitting the administration as a “complex and painful” decision.
With a heavy heart, but also with all of our hearts, we are quitting the emergency government today because of this, he stated.
Considered as Netanyahu’s primary political rival, Gantz announced his resignation eight months after the Hamas attacks on October 7th, citing a change in “the situation in the country and in the decision-making room.”
Claiming that “fateful strategic decisions are met with hesitancy and procrastination due to political considerations,” he accused Netanyahu of prioritizing his own personal political concerns over a post-war strategy for the Gaza Strip. The prime minister was then urged to call an election in the upcoming months.
“I demand that Netanyahu provide a date for the elections. Gantz remarked, “Do not allow our people to be split apart.
Gantz’s move satisfies an order he issued to the prime minister last month, demanding that he present a revised strategy for the fight against Hamas by June 8.
Although Gantz was supposed to step down on Saturday, he decided to delay the announcement in the wake of reports that Israeli forces had freed four hostages during an operation that, according to Gaza officials, claimed the lives of over 270 Palestinians.
Netanyahu has urged Gantz to continue serving in Israel’s interim administration, arguing that now is the time for cooperation rather than conflict, but Gantz has resigned. After Gantz made his announcement, Netanyahu pleaded with him to reconsider.
In a post on X, Netanyahu addressed Gantz and wrote, “Benny, this is not the time to abandon the campaign – this is the time to join forces.”
“Israeli citizens, we will not give up until the war is won and all of its objectives are met, chief among them the liberation of all our hostages and the destruction of Hamas,” Netanyahu declared.
Any political group that is willing to shoulder some of the costs of the war against Hamas and will “help bring victory over our enemies and ensure the security of our citizens,” according to Netanyahu, is welcome to come to his office.
Since Gantz’s party did not join the prime minister’s coalition, which maintains a majority with 64 seats in the 120-seat Israeli parliament, Gantz’s decision does not immediately jeopardize Netanyahu’s administration. That would, however, leave Netanyahu’s Likud as the only party represented in the war cabinet, which was formed four days after Hamas’ October 7 strike.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a fellow Likud member, is the only other member of the interim government with decision-making authority aside from the prime minister. (However, Ben Gvir, the far-right Israeli Minister of National Security, sought to be included in the war cabinet after Gantz’s statement).
Gantz’s choice coincides with mounting pressure on Netanyahu to put an end to the conflict and return the detainees from families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza as well as from Israel’s Western supporters.
With over 100 captives being held in the enclave and the majority of Hamas’ top leadership still at large, eight months after the conflict began, Israel has not yet succeeded in achieving its declared goals.
The prime minister has been repeatedly urged by the US to submit a concrete plan for Gaza’s post-war reconstruction. According to US President Joe Biden, who unveiled a three-pronged Israeli peace plan proposal last week, Netanyahu is probably profiting from the conflict’s prolongation.
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The 64-year-old former defense minister Gantz stated last month that Netanyahu ought to present a plan that calls for the destruction of Hamas, the release of hostages from Gaza, the installation of a different government in the enclave, the repatriation of Israelis who have been displaced from the country’s north, and a strategy to move closer to normalization with Saudi Arabia.
Gantz’s ultimatum was rejected by Netanyahu, who claimed that it would be detrimental to Israel.
Ahead of the war’s one-year anniversary in September, Gantz declared in April that “Israeli society needs to renew its contract with its leadership” and urged for early elections to be held as soon as possible.
Opinion polls show that Gantz frequently has greater popularity than the prime minister. According to a poll conducted on Friday and released by the Israeli newspaper Maariv, 42% of respondents supported Gantz while 34% supported Netanyahu.
Gantz was a member of the war cabinet, which runs separately from the larger Israeli government. It is in charge of making choices about the conflict in Gaza.
Former Israeli ambassador Alon Pinkas stated in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper that Gantz “joined the government four days after October 7 in order to balance things out with the far right and prevent reckless decision-making.” “He saw himself as the mature, responsible one in a government full of imbeciles and messianic misfits.”
Pinkas speculated that Gantz knew he would lose support if he remained in the cabinet as the war carried on, with hostages still held in Gaza and displaced people in northern Israel unable to return home.
According to Pinkas, Gantz will become weaker the longer he is in office. “He will lose more on both sides the more his positions resemble the prime minister’s. Centrists will look for other possibilities, while right-wingers will head back home.