The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, dissolved the War Cabinet, the six-member mechanism created on October 11, 2023 to make decisions on the military operation in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attack a few days ago. before, official Israeli sources confirmed.
The dissolution of the War Cabinet – a long-awaited decision – comes just a week after the leader of National Unity, former general Benny Gantz, and his partner Gadi Eisenkot, left it over their disagreements with Netanyahu. Those places were now demanded by the extreme right.
From now on, sensitive decisions about the war will be made in a smaller consultation forum in which the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, will participate; Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer; the head of the National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, and the ultra-Orthodox leader of the Shas party, Arieh Deri, from Netanyahu’s inner circle.
The new system prevents the entry into the power circle of the war of Netanyahu’s two government partners from the far-right wing, the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, and the head of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich. Its inclusion would increase tensions with international partners, including the United States.
“The time has come to make bold decisions, achieve real deterrence, and provide security to the residents of the north, the south, and Israel as a whole,” Ben Gvir wrote in a letter following Gantz’s resignation, intending to enter the cabinet. The minister supports, among others, re-establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip or the entry of Israeli troops into Lebanon.
Netanyahu, Gallant and Gantz were the only ones with votes in the recently dissolved War Cabinet, while Eisenkot, Deri and Dermer were simply observer members. With the departure of Gantz and Eisenkot, the cabinet was doomed to this dissolution.
Gantz and Eisenkot, both former chiefs of the General Staff, are members of the center-right National Unity party, which joined the emergency government created by Netanyahu as a result of the war from the opposition, but left that Executive last week due to disagreements with the prime minister on his management of the crisis, especially the absence of a post-war plan for Gaza.
(efe, reuters/mn)
