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Benny Gantz has threatened to leave the government unless Israel commits to a new plan for the war with Hamas and its aftermath, in an ultimatum to increase political pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Gantz, an opposition figure and former general who joined Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, announced in a televised statement Saturday evening a six-point plan that includes a template for post-war governance of Gaza. They called on the government to reach an agreement by June 8.
Gantz said if his demands were not met, he would pull his centrist National Unity Party, which polls suggest will be the largest group in the new elections, from the government.
“The choice is in your hands,” Gantz told Prime Minister Netanyahu directly. “Ten years ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu would have done the right thing. Are you willing to do the right and patriotic thing today?”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Gantz of “choosing to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister rather than to Hamas.”
In a statement, the prime minister’s office said, “The terms set by Mr. Gantz are clearly meaningless, meaning the end of the war and the defeat of Israel.”
Mr. Gantz’s ultimatum heightened months of tension within Netanyahu’s government over its war response and left Israel unable to achieve its goal of annihilating Hamas and freeing the approximately 130 Israeli hostages it still holds in Gaza. is still a long way off. At the same time, it faces intense international criticism over the sharp increase in humanitarian damage caused by attacks on Palestinian enclaves.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right and ultra-religious allies still control 64 seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament, so a withdrawal of the National Unity Party would automatically topple Prime Minister Netanyahu’s five-party coalition government. It will not trigger early elections.
But it would put an end to cross-partisan cooperation after the Oct. 7 attacks. Prime Minister Netanyahu will also become increasingly beholden to the two far-right parties in the coalition led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
They called for Israel to take a more aggressive approach to the war and, once the war ended, to push for the rebuilding of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, which most of the international community considers illegal. There is.
In a six-point plan laid out on Saturday, Gantz calls for establishing an international “civilian governance structure” for the enclave with US, European, Arab and Palestinian involvement, alongside Israeli security control. said it should.
He also said the plan should include the return of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Defeat of Hamas and demilitarization of enclaves. The return of Israelis to areas of northern Israel from which they had been evacuated since the start of the war. A step towards normalization with Saudi Arabia. and a framework to expand Israel’s military service to recruit more ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Gantz presented his ultimatum to Prime Minister Netanyahu as a choice between his vision and the vision supported by Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and their allies. “If you choose the path of fanaticism and lead the entire country into the abyss, we will be forced to leave the government,” he said.
“The people of Israel are watching you. You must choose between Zionism and cynicism, unity and sectarianism, responsibility and lawlessness, and victory and disaster.”
Netanyahu’s critics have repeatedly accused him of allowing war decisions to be colored by a desire to maintain the coalition should Ben Gvir and Smotrich leave.
Earlier this week, Defense Minister Yoav Galant criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu for his lack of post-war planning for Gaza, saying he “places national priorities above all other considerations, even at the potential personal or political cost.” I asked them to give priority to the above.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied accusations that he is pre-empting war and getting personal and, in response to Prime Minister Gallant, said any discussion of Hamas’s “next day” until Israel achieves military victory in Gaza “is out of touch with reality.” It’s disconnected,” he said.
