Deep divisions in war Cabinet
ISRAEL: TENSIONS BETWEEN NETANYAHU AND GANTZ Pair at odds about how to win the release of hostages held by Hamas – analysts.
Israel’s war Cabinet, seen as a symbol of national unity in the war against Hamas, has been shaken by political rivalry between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and centrist Benny Gantz, analysts say.
A former military chief and ex-defence minister, Gantz visited Washington on Monday before heading to London on Wednesday for high-level talks in a trip which was not authorised by Netanyahu.
It served to highlight the deep divisions between the two men as international pressure mounts on Israel over the growing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, with the war entering its sixth month.
Gantz’s visit to the US – Israel’s staunchest ally – shows that “his level of trust in Netanyahu is very low”, said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute think-tank.
It demonstrates he wanted to present an alternative view to Washington, he added.
Gantz, who left the political opposition to join the war Cabinet after Hamas’ unprecedented 7 October attacks in southern Israel, has been at odds with Netanyahu on how to win the release of hostages and draw up an exit strategy from the conflict.
But his trip to Washington has raised attention in Israel and drew strong criticism from ministers of Netanyahu’s right-wing party Likud. “It looks like some kind of subversion,” said Transport Minister Miri Regev, adding Gantz is “working behind the prime minister’s back”.
Dudi Amsalem, Israel’s regional cooperation minister and a Netanyahu ally, said Gantz had joined the wartime government “to create unity in an emergency, not to be a Trojan horse”.
“Tensions were always there,” between these “two people who hate each other”, said Reuven Hazan, a political science professor at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.
Five members make up the war Cabinet, with Netanyahu, Gantz and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant seen as the main players.
Hazan said Gantz travelled to Washington and London in a bid to demonstrate that he has the right profile to be a potential future prime minister.
He met US Vice-President Kamala Harris a day after she delivered some of the most stinging US criticism of Israel since the war began, calling for an “immediate ceasefire”. –