Mideast crisis: Israeli officials defy Netanyahu and lay bare government divisions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with members of his war cabinet, Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, during a press conference in Tel Aviv in October. Credit... Pool photo by Abir Sultan

With his emergency war cabinet on the verge of Disintegrated because of what his Opponents view his hesitations in continuing the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been challenged to make difficult choices by his two main partners in leading the military campaign.

Mr. Netanyahu's Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, from his own conservative Likud party, and Benny Gantz, a former centrist military leader and Netanyahu rival who joined the government shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack who started the war, demanded that the Israeli leader come up with a decisive strategy. Although their demands laid bare divisions within Mr. Netanyahu's war government, analysts said they were unlikely to bring about major change.

Mr. Gallant and Mr. Gantz have implicitly accused the Israeli leader in recent days of putting his political survival ahead of national security. They demand that Mr. Netanyahu choose between an endgame that leaves post-war Gaza under Israeli military control, as his far-right coalition partners want, or, as they suggest, some sort of Palestinian alternative to Hamas takes over with international support.

More broadly, they asked him to stop appeasing his radical political allies to the detriment of any semblance of national consensus, even as 'he continues to send Israeli soldiers into combat.

Mr. Gantz issued an ultimatum, saying on Saturday that his National Unity Party would leave the government by June 8 if Mr. Netanyahu chose “the path of the fanatics” and failed to open a strategic path.

But his party's exit alone would not loosen Mr. Netanyahu's grip on power: the far-right and religiously ultraconservative coalition which he formed after the November 2022 elections would still have a majority of 64 votes. seats out of the 120 seats in Parliament. Nonetheless, it would leave Mr. Netanyahu in a more precarious position, dependent on his radical partners and with less domestic and international legitimacy.

The demands made by Mr. Gantz and Mr. Gallant come as pressure increases in Israel for the government make clear decisions that will bring home the remaining 128 hostages in Gaza, an unknown number of whom are already dead, and also dismantle Hamas' military capabilities and ability to rule in Gaza.

These goals could be mutually exclusive, analysts say, since Hamas demands an Israeli commitment to end the war as a condition of any hostage deal.

< p class="live-blog-post-content css- h61jh5 evys1bk0">Some critics found Mr. Gantz's decision too hesitant, questioning his credentials as an electable alternative to Mr. Netanyahu.

“A three-week ultimatum? It's ridiculous!" said Mitchell Barak, an Israeli pollster and analyst who worked as an aide to Mr. Netanyahu in the 1990s.

Between now and June 8, Mr. Barak said a number of things could happen in Israeli politics, in Gaza and elsewhere. "It makes him look like he's not serious." he added.