Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the Israeli war cabinet that had been overseeing the conflict in Gaza, an apparent move to solidify his grasp on decision-making over the fighting with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.
Netanyahu announced the move to Ministers, saying that the war cabinet had been established as part of an agreement in which the moderate politician Benny Gantz and his national unity party joined an emergency coalition last year.
The Prime Minister reportedly told Ministers that the war cabinet was no longer needed following Gantz’s resignation a week ago.
Gantz, one of the members of the war cabinet, quit the coalition along with Gadi Eisenkot, one of the three observers in the body.
The war cabinet dissolution appears to be a deliberate snub to Netanyahu’s far-right allies in the coalition, including the National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich who had been eying seats in the war cabinet since Gantz’s departure after complaining he had been sidelined for key decisions.
A new war cabinet with a heavy influence enjoyed by Smotrich and Ben-Gvir would have further tested relations with international partners, first and foremost the U.S, which has called for Israel’s military to refrain from a full ground invasion of the southern city of Rafah and for increased aid shipments.
Netanyahu’s move also suggests an increasing confidence as the Prime Minister’s poll numbers have improved since the departure of Gantz, which has caused the latter’s polling to decline markedly.
While Netanyahu had been under pressure from the Biden administration to maintain the war cabinet, which was viewed as a more moderate forum, some analysts saw the move as preserving the Israeli Prime Minister’s desire to continue with the conflict, even as he sidelined Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.
Netanyahu is now expected to hold consultations about the Gaza war with a small group of ministers, including the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and the strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, who had been in the war cabinet.
The dissolution of the war cabinet is unlikely to have any meaningful impact on the conflict; decision-making will move back to the security cabinet, but the political ramifications may be more significant.
The move comes as protesters against Netanyahu’s government and handling of the war with Hamas are staging a week of demonstrations with the aim of forcing an election before the first year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack.
Demonstrator demands have gotten greater as these protests have gone on throughout the war. Not only do they want new leadership, new elections, and for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to be overthrown, but they ultimately want a ceasefire deal that would bring back the remaining Israeli captives held in Gaza.
Lapid Says Israel’s Government Should Be Dissolved
Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid reacted to Netanyahu’s move to disband the war cabinet, stating that it should be his government that loses power instead.
Lapid, who heads Israel’s centrist Yesh Atid party, has been a prominent figure in antigovernment protests sweeping Israel.
According to an analyst, Benjamin Netanyahu’s move to disband his war cabinet provides him leeway to draw out the war on Gaza to stay in power.
“It means that he will make all the decisions himself, or with people he trusts who don’t challenge him,” Gideon Rahat, chairman of the political science department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, stated.
“And his interest is in having a slow-attrition war,” Rahat added.
Netanyahu’s critics accuse him of delaying because an end to the war would mean an investigation into the government’s failures on October 7 and raise the likelihood of new elections at a time when the Prime Minister’s popularity is low.
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