Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz announced his resignation from the emergency government during a press conference on Sunday evening.
On May 18, Gantz stated that his party would exit the government on June 8 unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met six key objectives: returning the hostages, demolishing Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza, providing a governing alternative in the Strip, returning residents of the North to their homes by September 1 and rehabilitating the western Negev, promoting normalization with Saudi Arabia, and adopting a standardized national service plan requiring all Israelis to serve the country.
The move does not immediately pose a threat to Netanyahu, who still controls a majority coalition in parliament. But the Israeli leader becomes more heavily reliant on his far-right allies.
Gantz said Netanyahu is “preventing true victory” and “making empty promises,” adding that the country needs to take a different direction as he expects the fighting to continue for years to come.
He scrapped a planned news conference Saturday night after four Israeli hostages were dramatically rescued from Gaza earlier in the day in Israel’s largest such operation since the eight-month war began.
Gantz called for Israel to hold elections in the fall, and encouraged the third member of the war Cabinet, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, to “do the right thing” and resign from the government as well.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC / AP)
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12 Responses
Nothing to see here. He made it clear that he would weeks if not months ago.
benny with a lower case, because only a lower case individual could do this during a war.
BH finally he is out!
This is very good news!
Time for all the lefties to follow suit
I’m pretty sure the taxpayer didn’t need to keep paying a minister “without portfolio”. If they need his military opinion, they can pay him a small consultant’s fee.
No loss whatsoever. Now the Prime Minister can b’ezrat Hashem, continue his work without the negative hindrance from within.
y2r: Gantz is a centrist. By today’s political standards, he’s center-right.
Ganz has considerably more integrity than the other hypocrites in the coalition. Bibi, who allowed the simchas torah massacre to happen by ignoring evidence of Hamas plans for the attack and downplaying the threat, has done everything possible to avoid tough decisions and protect his political viability. The far-right idiots in the cabinet have zero military credibility.
Yaapchik
Well said!
I’d love to see HIM accomplish his six “conditions”. Politicians talk big until they’re in the big seat. These leftists are so self centered, it’s pathetic. They learned nothing since October 7.
Y2r,
He’s out from the coalition, not the government
Is it possible that the rescue of the 4 hostages was planned to take place the day before Ganz resigns – to solidify Netanyahu’s coalition, or was the timing of the histage rescue just an amazing coincidence? Think about it
Yaapchik:
…because the (lower-case) zionists are such saints, of course.