In Israel, divisions continue to be on full display within the war cabinet itself. Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival, Benny Gantz, gave the Prime Minister three weeks to adopt a strategic “action plan”, particularly on the post-war in the Gaza Strip, failing which he will resign.
“The war cabinet must formulate and approve by June 8, an action plan to achieve six strategic objectives of national importance,” declared Benny Gantz during a televised speech, asserting otherwise “constrained to resign from the government.
Gantz wants “neither Hamas nor Abbas”
Head of the National Union Party (center-right) and former Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz joined the National Unity War Cabinet after the unprecedented attack carried out on October 7 in Israel by Hamas. This cabinet has five members, also including the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant.
One of the “objectives” of the plan must be “the establishment of an American-European-Arab-Palestinian administration which will manage civil affairs” in Gaza “and lay the foundations for a future alternative which is neither the Hamas ni (Mahmoud) Abbas”, president of the Palestinian Authority, expelled from the Gaza Strip in 2007 by Hamas, explained Benny Gantz.
He also called for normalization with Saudi Arabia “within the broader framework that will enable an alliance between the ‘free world’ and the Arab world against Iran and its allies.” “If you choose the path of the fanatics and lead the entire Nation towards the abyss, we will be forced to resign,” said Benny Gantz, minister without portfolio since October 7.
Gallant also puts pressure on Netanyahu
“The conditions set by Benny Gantz are rehashed remarks whose meaning is clear: the end of the war and the defeat of Israel,” responded Benjamin Netanyahu in a press release, accusing his rival of “looking for an excuse to overthrow the government » and wanting “the creation of a Palestinian state”.
Without a parliamentary majority for his party, the Likud, the Prime Minister leads a coalition considered to be the most right-wing in the history of Israel. Yoav Gallant had already publicly called on Benjamin Netanyahu on May 15 to “immediately prepare” a “governmental alternative to Hamas” in the Gaza Strip, where the army indicated that it was intensifying its operations in Rafah, in the South, for a battle described as “decisive” by the Prime Minister. The Minister of Defense had expressed his opposition to a civil or military administration of the Gaza Strip by Israel.