Don’t ‘abandon the front’

Gantz also called on Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant to “do what is right”.

Netanyahu issued a brief statement calling on Gantz not to “abandon the front”, but his departure will not endanger the parliamentary majority of 64 seats in the 120-seat Knesset held by the ruling right-wing coalition.

Gantz is seen as Netanyahu’s main political rival in Israel. He was a leading figure in the opposition before joining the war cabinet.

Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat, reporting from Jordan’s capital Amman, said the move did not come as a surprise.

“He said his demands were very clear,” Khairat said.

“Benny Gantz was brought into this war cabinet … At the beginning, they showed a united front. These cracks started to appear throughout, and there was much speculation, eventually last month he said that he gave the prime minister an ultimatum,” she said. 

Gantz’s departure, Khairat said, leaves the “floor open for the most far-right ministers” within Netanyahu’s coalition government to now join the war cabinet, including Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s party.

Smotrich reacted to Gantz’s resignation in a post on X. “There is no act less stately than withdrawing from the government during a war,” he said.

“This is exactly what [Yahya] Sinwar, [Hasan] Nasrallah and Iran were aiming for, and unfortunately you are fulfilling their request,” Smotrich also said, referring to Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.

“I call on all the leaders of the Zionist parties for whom the State of Israel is important to join the unity government until victory.”