In a move likely to increase the already high political tension at the highest levels of Israel’s government, Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a deadline until June 8 to agree to a comprehensive strategic plan for the ‘day after’ Hamas in Gaza, and threatened to leave the government if this did not happen.
“Lately, something has gone wrong,” Gantz said. “Essential decisions were not made. Essential leadership decisions to ensure victory were not done. A small minority has taken over the command bridge of the Israeli ship of state and is steering her toward the rocks,” Gantz said, referring to Netanyahu’s far-right political partners, who repeatedly threatened in recent weeks that they would bring down the government if he made concessions that Gantz supported.
“Personal and political considerations have infiltrated the holy of holies of Israeli security,” Gantz said.
Gantz listed six objectives that Netanyahu must adopt or face his withdrawal from government:
- The return of the hostages
- The demobilization of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip
- Determining an “American-European-Arab-Palestinian” governing alternative in the Strip that “is not Hamas and not [Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud] Abbas”
- The return of the residents of the north by September 1, and rehabilitation of the western Negev
- Promoting normalization with Saudi Arabia, as part of a general move that includes “a treaty with the free world and the Arab world against Iran”
- Adopting an outline for creating a standardized Israeli national service, in which all Israelis will “serve the country and contribute to the highest national effort”
“If you choose to lead the nation to the abyss, we will withdraw from the government, turn to the people, and form a government that can bring about a real victory,” Gantz said.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu, I look you in the eye this evening and say – the choice is in your hands. After speaking to you over and over again, the moment of truth has arrived … I have known you for many years as a leader and Israeli patriot – you know very well what needs to be done.”
Choosing between Zionism and cynicism
“Netanyahu of a decade ago would have done the right thing. Are you able to do the correct and patriotic thing today as well?
“You must choose between Zionism and cynicism, between unity and divisiveness, between responsibility and negligence, between victory and disaster,” Gantz said.
Commenting on the unity government, he said, “For many months, the unity was indeed real and meaningful. It prevented serious mistakes, led to great achievements, and returned home over a hundred hostages. Together, we faced the hardships of the campaign, protected the nation with a good and strong spirit – and gave the fighters on the front a feeling of being backed by a shared destiny.”
“I came here today to tell the truth. And the truth is hard: while Israeli soldiers show supreme bravery on the front, some of the people who sent them into battle behave with cowardice and irresponsibility.”
The comments were remarkable, as for the first time since joining Netanyahu in an emergency government in October and becoming a part of the smaller war cabinet, Gantz publicly accused the prime minister of prioritizing his political survival over the nation’s interests, and for the first time set a clear deadline for his remainder in the government.
Gantz’s speech came three days after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made similar comments, publicly criticizing Netanyahu’s indecision on the question of who will govern Gaza after Hamas is defeated, and on the prime minister’s attempts to avoid drafting haredi men into the IDF. Taken together, the two statements constitute the most serious political challenge against Netanyahu since the war’s outbreak.
The prime minister’s office put out a response an hour after Gantz finished speaking.
“While our heroic soldiers are fighting to destroy Hamas’ battalions in Rafah, Gantz chooses to set an ultimatum for the prime minister instead of setting an ultimatum for Hamas. The conditions that Benny Gantz set are empty words whose meaning is clear: an end to the war and Israeli defeat, abandoning most of the hostages, leaving Hamas standing, and forming a Palestinian state. Our soldiers did not fall for nothing, and especially not to replace Hamastan with Fatahstan,” the prime minister’s office said.
The PMO then put three questions to Gantz, the answers of which would prove whether “Gantz prefers the national interest or is looking for an excuse to bring down the government”:
- Does Gantz want to finish the operation in Rafah, and if so, how is he threatening to bring down the emergency government in the middle of the operation?
- Does Gantz oppose civilian rule by the PA in Gaza, even without Abbas?
- Is Gantz willing to accept a Palestinian state in the West bank as part of a normalization process with Saudi Arabia?
The prime minister’s stance was clear on these questions, according to the statement: The prime minister was determined to destroy Hamas in Rafah, opposed any involvement of the PA in Gaza, and opposed a Palestinian State that would “definitely be a terror state.”
“Prime Minister Netanyahu thinks that the emergency government is important to achieveing all of the war’s goals, including returning all of Israel’s hostages, and expects Gantz to clarify his positions to the public on these issues,” the PMO concluded.
Other political leaders from the coalition and opposition were quick to respond.
“Benny Gantz is a small leader and big trickster, who from the first moment of joining the government, has chiefly been trying to dismantle it. His trip to Washington for talks against the prime minister’s position (after which the [US] administration became hostile (were just a small part of his subversion,” National Security Minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on X.
Ben-Gvir then accused Gantz of being part of the “concept” of making concessions to the Palestinians that were proven wrong by the October 7 massacre, and said that Gantz was the “last who can propose security alternatives.”
Gantz’s former ally, United Right chairman MK Gideon Sa’ar, who joined the government alongside Gantz in October but quit last month, wrote on X, “When we came out against the flailing [war effort], Gamtz said that everything was working well. Tonight, he revealed the flailing to which he was a full partner, to say the least. Empty slogans do not serve to cover up a lack of leadership,” Sa’ar said.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accused Gantz of pushing to “stop the war and form a Palestinian state with American pressure,” and called on Netanyahu to “make a strategic decision of full Israeli control over Gaza and a decision that from here on out our forces will not be stopped.”
Leader of the Labor Party, MK Merav Michaeli, wrote on X, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but our hostages don’t have the ease of waiting until 8 June to decide whether they are brought home or not.”