Benny Gantz has resigned from Israel’s emergency government and called for elections, criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the war against Hamas.
The departure of Gantz, a Netanyahu rival and former general, would not cause the ruling coalition to collapse, but it deprives the government of a moderate voice during the war that began after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, leaving Netanyahu more reliant on his right-wing coalition partners. The prime minister and his allies control 64 out of the 120 seats in parliament.
Following Gantz’s resignation, far-right party leader Itamar Ben Gvir, who holds six seats in Netanyahu’s coalition, posted a letter on X demanding to be added to the war Cabinet in Gantz’s place.
Photo: Reuters
“The time has come to make brave decisions, achieve real deterrence and bring security to the residents of Israel,” Ben Gvir wrote.
Gantz, one in a three-person war Cabinet that included Netanyahu, said in a televised news conference that the prime minister was preventing Israel from achieving “true victory” in its war against Hamas, saying that “fateful, strategic decisions are met with hesitancy and procrastination due to political considerations.”
He called for an election in the fall, as Israel marks the first anniversary of the attacks, “that will lead to a true unity government.”
In a post on X, Netanyahu wrote that “Israel is in an existential war on multiple fronts.”
“Benny, this is not the time to abandon the campaign — this is the time to join forces,” he wrote.
Gantz postponed his announcement by a day, after the Israeli military freed four hostages in an operation in central Gaza. More than 270 Palestinians were killed in the operation, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
In his speech, Gantz said that the military campaign would last years and that he could not make “empty promises” guaranteeing an easy and quick victory.
He said that a true victory puts “bringing home the hostage above political survival, combines military success with political and civil initiative,” and should involve replacing Hamas and establishing a regional alliance against Iran led by the US and the entire Western world.
Gantz said he supports the ceasefire deal approved by the war Cabinet and “whose principles were presented by US President Joe Biden.
“I demand the Prime Minister to gather the necessary courage to stand behind it and do everything to promote it,” he said and promised to back such plan as an opposition leader.
Three weeks ago Gantz announced that he would leave the war Cabinet by June 8 unless Netanyahu met a long list of demands which were not met.
Gantz had sought to bring in a coalition of Arabs, Palestinians, Americans and Europeans to manage civilian affairs in the coastal strip and return Israelis who have been evacuated from the north because of ongoing battles with Lebanon’s Hezbollah to their homes by September.
He said Netanyahu needs to promote relations with Saudi Arabia and come up with an elusive plan for conscripting religious men.
Gantz, a former defense minister and former chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, has been ahead of Netanyahu as a future prime minister in most polls held since the beginning of the war in October.
‘EYE FOR AN EYE’: Two of the men were shot by a male relative of the victims, whose families turned down the opportunity to offer them amnesty, the Supreme Court said Four men were yesterday publicly executed in Afghanistan, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power. The executions in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out publicly in sports stadiums. Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the center
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is leaning into his banking background as his country fights a trade war with the US, but his financial ties have also made him a target for conspiracy theories. Incorporating tropes familiar to followers of the far-right QAnon movement, conspiratorial social media posts about the Liberal leader have surged ahead of the country’s April 28 election. Posts range from false claims he recited a “satanic chant” at a campaign event to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of him in a pool with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “He’s the ideal person to be targeted here, for sure, due to
DISPUTE: Beijing seeks global support against Trump’s tariffs, but many governments remain hesitant to align, including India, ASEAN countries and Australia China is reaching out to other nations as the US layers on more tariffs, in what appears to be an attempt by Beijing to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat. Days into the effort, it is meeting only partial success from countries unwilling to ally with the main target of US President Donald Trump’s trade war. Facing the cratering of global markets, Trump on Wednesday backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, saying countries were lining up to negotiate more favorable conditions. China has refused to seek talks, saying the US was insincere and that it
RSS