Mr Gantz goes to Washington: Long-time rival defies Netanyahu with unauthorised visit to staunch Israeli ally
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz visited Washington on Monday for talks with several senior officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and members of the bipartisan Senate foreign relations committee.
Mr Gantz’s diplomatic push infuriated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had refused to approve the trip.
“It’s not conventional, it’s not normal, it’s against protocol,” said Dan Avnon, a professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “And in normal circumstances, this would have a huge political effect.”
Mr Gantz, a retired general and former defence minister, joined Mr Netanyahu’s war cabinet after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people.
But the leader of the centrist National Unity Party is no political ally of the Prime Minister. The two are longtime rivals and Mr Gantz has often been viewed as a potential replacement.
Public support for Mr Netanyahu has plummeted during the Israel-Gaza war, while polls suggest that Mr Gantz’s approval has risen considerably.
Meanwhile, Mr Netanyahu’s relationship with US President Joe Biden, never particularly warm, has grown increasingly frosty since the war began.
Mr Gantz’s visit to the US in defiance of the Prime Minister may be a sign of division in the fragile war cabinet, Mr Avnon said.
“It means that Gantz has decided that there’s no point in hiding or camouflaging the deep differences that are in the war cabinet regarding Israeli policy, both with the Palestinians, geopolitical Middle East versus the United States.”
But others view Mr Gantz’s trip more cynically.
“One can’t help but see this as a political stunt,” said Enia Krivine, senior director of the Israel programme at the
Foundation for Defence of Democracies think tank.
“Going around the Prime Minister in the way he did makes [Mr Netanyahu] look weak, which is not something that any Prime Minister wants to feel during wartime.”
Mr Avnon suggested that Mr Gantz’s visit may not be a political gambit, but an attempt to demonstrate to the US that it still has a viable partner in Israel.
“He understands that there can be a meshing of the Biden administration and US foreign policy, vis-a-vis Israel, in a way that everyone’s in a win-win situation,” he said. “That’s what a statesman should be doing.”
Washington has been a staunch supporter of Israel throughout its campaign in Gaza, supplying arms to its military and defending it at the UN, such as by vetoing three Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire.
But as the death toll continues to rise – now more than 30,600, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry – the White
House faces increasing pressure to find an end to the conflict.
Mr Biden has faced widespread criticism for his stalwart defence of Israel, particularly among progressives and Arab Americans – key voting blocs for the Democratic Party.
On Sunday, Ms Harris called for an “immediate ceasefire” lasting up to six weeks.
The US, along with Egypt and Qatar, have for months been mediating talks to secure the release of hostages by Hamas in exchange for an extended pause in fighting.
But Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly hampered these efforts, slamming the door shut on a previous deal that Washington had helped to broker.
Israel has insisted it will continue its operation in Gaza, including a planned incursion into Rafah, the enclave’s southernmost city, where more than 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge.
The US has demanded that Israel provide a detailed plan to protect civilians before sending troops into the city. “Netanyahu tries to portray his relationship with the Biden administration as confrontational and that he is little David fighting big Goliath, the United States,” Mr Avnon said.
During his visit to Washington, Mr Gantz updated US officials on the war, while also listening to their concerns.
“I think he wants to take the pulse of where the US is at in this war,” said David Makovksy of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank.
“He knows the US has concerns and he wants to hear those concerns.”
The US saw Mr Gantz’s visit as an opportunity to relay concerns over the humanitarian situation in Gaza and discuss the chances of a hostage deal.
“Talking to someone in the five-member war cabinet, who was so central to the coalition, I think, is a very key component,” Mr Makovsky told The National.
“So I think they weren’t just in listening mode. They were also very much in transmit mode as well.”