Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
On the face of it, the departure of Benny Gantz from Israel’s war cabinet is a reflection of deeply felt disagreements about planning for the post-war – or lack of it – and a sign that Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on power as prime minister may at last be slipping. In practice, not so much. Gantz quit at the weekend, keeping a promise to do so if Netanyahu failed to come up with a plausible strategy for ending the war. He said Netanyahu was “preventing us from advancing toward true victory,” and Netanyahu certainly has an interest in prolonging the war since peace would probably mean elections, political defenestration and a corruption trial. But Gantz’s departure shrinks rather than topples Netanyahu’s coalition and leaves him more rather than less reliant on Israel’s hard-right. Gantz is an ex-general with a plan for Gaza to be run by its Arab neighbours plus the US and the EU. It’s better than anything else to emerge from the war cabinet, but very far from realisation.