Benny Gantz resigned from Israel’s emergency government and called for elections, criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war against Hamas.
The departure of Netanyahu’s rival, former general Gantz, will not lead to the collapse of the ruling coalition. But it deprives the government of its right to be a moderate voice during the war that began after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, leaving Netanyahu even more reliant on his right-wing coalition partners.
The prime minister and his allies control 64 of the 120 seats in parliament.
After Gantz resigned, Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the far-right party that holds six seats in Netanyahu’s coalition, published a letter on the War Cabinet.
“Now is the time to make courageous decisions that achieve real deterrence and bring security to Israel’s residents,” Ben Gvir wrote.
Gantz, one of three members of the war cabinet that includes Netanyahu, told a televised news conference that the prime minister was preventing Israel from achieving “real victory” in its war against Hamas and Says “major strategic decisions are met with hesitation” and delays due to political considerations.
He called for elections in the fall, as Israel marks the first anniversary of the attacks, “that will form a true coalition government.”
Netanyahu’s office had no immediate public comment.
Gantz delayed the announcement by a day after the Israeli military released four hostages in an operation in central Gaza. More than 270 Palestinians were killed in the operation, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Gantz said in his speech that the military operation would last for several years and that he could not make “empty promises” to guarantee an easy and quick victory.
A real victory, he said, would “put bringing the hostages home over political survival, combining military success with political and civilian initiative” and should include replacing Hamas and establishing a coalition led by the United States and the entire Western world. Regional alliance against Iran.
Gantz said he supported the ceasefire agreement approved by the war cabinet “the principles of which were proposed by US President Joe Biden”. “I ask the prime minister to have the necessary courage to support this plan and do everything he can to push it forward,” he said, pledging to support the plan as leader of the opposition.
Three weeks ago, Gantz announced that he would leave the war cabinet by June 8 unless Netanyahu met a long list of unmet demands.
Gantz had sought to form a coalition of Arabs, Palestinians, Americans and Europeans to manage civil affairs along the coast and send Israelis evacuated from the north by September due to ongoing fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Return home. He said Netanyahu needed to boost ties with Saudi Arabia and floated an elusive plan to recruit religious figures.
Gantz, a former defense minister and former IDF chief of staff, has led Netanyahu in most polls as the future prime minister since the war broke out in October.
Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 others. and political entity—has killed some 35,000 people According to Hamas officials, Palestinians do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
