Monday, June 17, 2024 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced the end of Israel’s six-member war cabinet.
The Israeli leader had announced the decision at a meeting
of the political security cabinet on Sunday evening, according to a Reuters
report on Monday, June 17.
Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have been pushing
for a new war cabinet to be established after the more centrist Benny Gantz
quit the emergency government.
Nationalist-religious Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have demanded Israel must continue
its Gaza war despite calls for restraint from allies including the United
States, had called for a new war cabinet to be formed featuring coalition party
leaders but Netanyahu reportedly turned them down.
“The cabinet was in the
coalition agreement with Gantz, at his request. As soon as Gantz left – there
is no need for a cabinet any more,” Netanyahu said, according to a report in
The Jerusalem Post.
Netanyahu is now expected to hold consultations about the
Gaza war with a small group of ministers, including Defence Minister Yoav
Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who had been in the war
cabinet.
Gantz’s resignation from the government withdrew the only
centrist power Netanyahu's far-right coalition, amid the war on Gaza.
Gantz has called for an election claiming that Netanyahu
failed to present a post-war plan for Gaza.
Also, according to Israeli media, Ben-Gvir appealed in a
letter to Netanyahu last Thursday to expand the war cabinet.
The letter reportedly said the Israeli war has over the past
eight months been “conducted in secret”, through “limited forums that change
their names and definitions in a loop, all for the purpose of sole control over
decisions and avoiding discussion of other positions that would challenge the
old conception”.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said “In order to reach the goal of
eliminating the capabilities of Hamas, [he] made decisions that were not always
acceptable to the military echelon” during the weekly cabinet meeting.
The war cabinet included Netanyahu, Gantz, Gallant, Dermer,
Gadi Eizenkot, and Shas party leader Aryeh Deri. It is possible, that Netanyahu
will continue to consult Gallant, Dermer, and Deri privately.
While such an arrangement would not have legal weight, it
would allow the prime minister to continue excluding Ben-Gvir and Smotrich from
sensitive security discussions.
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