Divisions and disagreements within the Israeli cabinet on the conduct and priorities of the war against Hamas have simmered since the onset of the crisis. <\/p>\n
Now they\u2019ve boiled over, revealing a new level of public vitriol \u2013 as well as an ultimatum from one of three members of the war cabinet \u2013 as the seven-month long conflict potentially enters a new phase. <\/p>\n
On Saturday Benny Gantz, the leader of the National Unity Party, who joined the war cabinet after Hamas\u2019 attack in October, demanded by June 8 the adoption of a six-point plan. That plan would secure the return of Israeli hostages, the demobilization of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. <\/p>\n
It would also lead to the creation of an alternative government for Gaza, \u201can American-European-Arab-Palestinian administration\u201d that would \u201clay the foundation for a future alternative that is not Hamas or [Mahmoud] Abbas,\u201d the President of the Palestinian Authority. <\/p>\n
The Gantz plan would also ensure the return of residents displaced by attacks from Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon, and measures to ensure ultra-orthodox Jews can be drafted into the military just like any other citizen. That has been a red line for the religious right in the Israeli cabinet. <\/p>\n
In an unveiled swipe at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gantz, who is widely seen to be a leading contender to be the next Israeli leader, added that \u201cpersonal and political considerations have begun to penetrate into the holy of holies of Israel\u2019s security.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you choose to lead the nation into the abyss, we will withdraw from the government, turn to the people, and form a government that can bring about a real victory.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cUnity cannot be a fig leaf for stagnation in the management of the campaign,\u201d Gantz added. <\/p>\n
Within hours the accusations were flying, laying bare the fissures in Israeli politics and the personal animosities that pervade the government. <\/p>\n
The prime minister\u2019s office shot back. \u201cThe conditions set by Benny Gantz are washed-up words whose meaning is clear: the end of the war and a defeat for Israel, the abandonment of most of the hostages, leaving Hamas intact and the establishment of a Palestinian state,\u201d it said in a statement. <\/p>\n
One far-right member of the cabinet, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, said Gantz was \u201ca small leader and big trickster, who, from the first moment of joining the government has chiefly been trying to dismantle it.\u201d <\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWhoever offered the ultra-Orthodox agreements on a conscription law in exchange for the dissolution of the government and now chants slogans about responsibility, is a hypocrite and a liar.\u201d <\/p>\n
From a very different point of view, opposition leader Yair Lapid said Gantz should act now. <\/p>\n
\u201cEnough with the press conferences, enough with the empty ultimatums, get out! If you weren\u2019t sitting in the government, we would already be in the post Netanyahu and Ben Gvir era,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Gantz\u2019s broadside did not come in isolation. Last week, the third member of the war cabinet, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, spoke of decisions that he said should have been made at the start of the war. He also said: \u201cI will not agree to the establishment of Israeli military rule in Gaza. Israel must not establish civilian rule in Gaza.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s against this background of internecine warfare that Israeli troops continue to fight in Gaza, unsure of how their mission will end and of any plan for the day after the guns fall silent. <\/p>\n
Gantz himself made reference to this Saturday, saying that \u201cwhile the Israeli soldiers show supreme bravery on the front \u2013 some of the people who sent them into battle behave with cowardice and irresponsibility.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israeli commentators Sunday said the illusion of unity within the cabinet that had been fostered in the early phase of the conflict had been shattered. <\/p>\n
The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that the comments were remarkable in that for the first time, \u201cGantz publicly accused the prime minister of prioritizing his political survival over the nation\u2019s interests. For the first time, he set a clear deadline for remaining in the government.\u201d <\/p>\n
Writing in Haaretz, Anshel Pfeffer said that whoever had written Gantz\u2019s speech \u201cdid nothing more than recycle the dozens of leaks on the divisions within the war cabinet over the past few months.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pfeffer, author of the unauthorized biography \u201cBibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu,\u201d says the bottom line, at the end of a week of political turmoil, is that \u201cof the three war cabinet members\u2026two have now publicly accused the third member, Netanyahu, of not having a strategy for a war that has been ongoing for seven and a half months.\u201d <\/p>\n
Despite all this, Pfeffer and other analysts contend that the status quo may persist, because for Netanyahu, the presence of Gantz and Gallant in the three-man war cabinet provides protection from right-wing members of the larger cabinet. <\/p>\n
Some of them want Israel to rebuild settlements in Gaza and a much more aggressive approach in the north. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who wants the Israeli military to take control of Gaza after Hamas is liquidated, on Sunday also called for Israeli forces to enter and establish a security zone in southern Lebanon should Hezbollah rocket attacks continue. <\/p>\n
On Saturday night, Gantz told Netanyahu: \u201cI look into your eyes tonight and I tell you \u2013 the choice is in your hands.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said the moment of truth had arrived. <\/p>\n
Has it? Over the next three weeks, compromise may yet keep the war cabinet intact. And Gantz is not part of the broader coalition government, which means his potential withdrawal from the war cabinet would not automatically trigger a collapse of Netanyahu\u2019s government. <\/p>\n
It would, however, leave the prime minister more exposed to the demands of far-right- members of his cabinet. <\/p>\n
All this comes at a time of daily protests in Israel, from those calling for immediate elections to those demanding that securing the hostages\u2019 release should be the absolute priority, and those wanting an end to further humanitarian aid being allowed into Gaza. And at a time when the Israeli military is fighting in north, central and southern Gaza, and preparing for what may be the toughest phase of the campaign to date. <\/p>\n\n
Divisions and disagreements within the Israeli cabinet on the conduct and priorities of the war against Hamas have simmered since the onset of the crisis. Now they\u2019ve boiled over, revealing a new level of public vitriol \u2013 as well as an ultimatum from one of three members of the war cabinet \u2013 as the seven-month <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}