Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still fighting foreign foes on multiple fronts, but on Monday he woke up to a new political battlefield at home.
Benny Gantz and his centrist National Unity Party quit Israel’s emergency wartime government this weekend, but Netanyahu’s grip on power is unlikely to be immediately broken: His ruling coalition still holds a slim 64-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament.
But Gantz’s moves mean Netanyahu will rely entirely on his far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish coalition partners as he wages the war in Gaza in the face of growing international condemnation, leaving him increasingly isolated and at risk both at home and abroad.
Gantz and another leading member of the National Unity faction, Gadi Eisenkot, also left Netanyahu’s small war cabinet. Both men are former military commanders who were widely seen as key moderate voices in the five-man cabinet formed in October after Israel launched bombings and a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas-led attack on Israel.
The two centrist politicians boosted public confidence in the government’s decision-making process at a time of national hardship. They also lent an aura of legitimacy and consensus to the war cabinet as Israel battles Hamas in the Gaza Strip, arch rival Iran and other proxies, including the powerful Hezbollah militia on Lebanon’s northern border.
Gantz accused Netanyahu of “political procrastination,” suggesting he had been putting off key strategic decisions to ensure his political survival. His decision to leave the wartime government has ushered in a new period of political instability and left many Israelis wondering what the country will become.
Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Jerusalem, called the political upheaval “incredibly significant” and said in a statement that Israelis already give their government low marks on many wartime issues, including its response to the fighting and its relationship with the United States, Israel’s key ally.
“With Gantz out of the picture, we expect the performance to be even lower,” Plessner said.
Gantz issued an ultimatum to Netanyahu three weeks ago, warning that he would dismantle the emergency government unless the prime minister presented a clear plan for who would replace Hamas as Gaza’s post-war ruler and how to return the thousands of hostages still being held in the Palestinian territories.
Gantz joined the government last October to instill a sense of unity during a time of crisis. He aligned himself with his political rival, Netanyahu, despite a deep lack of trust and a history of betrayal between the two. Gantz last governed with Netanyahu in 2020, but that ended badly when Netanyahu reneged on a power-sharing agreement. Gantz and Eisenkot’s influence has waned in recent months, leading many Israelis to question why the two did not leave the emergency government sooner and join the opposition. Gantz is calling for early elections this fall.
Mr. Netanyahu’s remaining formal partners in the war cabinet are Defense Minister Yoav Galant, a rival in the conservative Likud party whom Mr. Netanyahu tried to fire last year, and Ron Dermer, a close Netanyahu aide with more diplomatic than political experience. It is unclear whether the cabinet will continue to function.
A separate cabinet in charge of broader security includes two ultranationalist party leaders, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom support the resettlement of Israelis in Gaza.
Both Bengvir and Smotrich have vowed to topple Netanyahu if he goes ahead with an Israeli-proposed agreement that includes a ceasefire and an exchange of Palestinian prisoners and hostages, as outlined by President Biden more than a week ago, that would effectively end the war.
