Why did Netanyahu dissolve Israel war Cabinet? What does this mean for Gaza war?

The Israel-Hamas war has been ongoing for eight months. So far, there is no end in sight though talks of ceasefire have been going on for a while. Today, the country is more divided than it was before 7 October. There is trouble in the upper echelons in Jerusalem and now Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the war Cabinet.

Nethanyahu’s decision to replace the six-member group comes as no surprise. It was expected after Opposition leader Benny Gantz quit the body followed by his ally Gadi Eisenkot. But there is more.

We examine why the Cabinet was disbanded and what this means for the conflict.

What was the Israeli war Cabinet?

The war Cabinet was established five days after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October . It was a smaller body within the security Cabinet and was set up to make quick decisions about the war. However, these would need a go-ahead from the wider Cabinet.

The six-member team comprised Netanyahu, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Benny Gantz. It had three observers Aryeh Deri and Gadi Eisenkot, who are government ministers and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

The war Cabinet was set up as a show of unity. Gantz at the time demanded that the small decision-making body steer the war in a bid to sideline far-right members of Netanyahu’s government.

However, the running was not always smooth and disagreements started to crop up.

In January, Opposition leader Yair Lapid had told a party meeting that Gallant and Netanyahu “were no longer speaking to one another”, according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The war Cabinet meetings had become “a shameful arena for settling scores, fighting and discussions that lead nowhere”, he reportedly added.

Why did Gantz quit the war Cabinet?

Gantz is a political opponent of Netanyahu and they too have had their differences.

On 9 June, the former general decided to withdraw from the war Cabinet after months of mounting tensions over Israel’s strategy in Gaza. He announced that the decision was “complex and painful” and then cited Netanyahu’s failure to chalk up a strategy for the Gaza conflict and the future governance in the enclave.

“Netanyahu prevents us from moving forward to a real victory [in Gaza],” Gantz said. He said he was fed up with a lack of progress in bringing home the dozens of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and accused Netanyahu of drawing out the war to avoid new elections and a corruption trial. “I call on Netanyahu: set an agreed election date. Do not let our people be torn apart,” Gantz said.

He also urged the Israeli PM to endorse a plan that — among other points — would rescue the captives and end Hamas rule in Gaza. When Netanyahu did not express support for the plan, Gantz announced his departure. He said that “fateful strategic decisions” in the Cabinet were being “met with hesitancy and procrastination due to political considerations”.

Why did Netanyahu scrap the group?

With Gantz, his ally from the National Unity Party, observer Eisenkot, also quit.

Soon there were calls from far-right ministers to take Gantz’s place. Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are both keen to join the body.

Both the leaders represent the ultra-Orthodox, hard-right constituency. They had earlier threatened to resign if Israel did not attack Rafah and if Netanyahu went ahead with a US-backed ceasefire deal. Israel’s allies, including the US, are unlikely to engage with the two politicians, according to a report in Al-Jazeera.

The decision to dissolve the war Cabinet is a diplomatic one. With this, the Israeli PM avoids a precarious situation with his coalition partners and international allies.

By dismantling the Cabinet, Netanyahu may have avoided having to give in to Ben-Gvir’s calls to join the group, which could have further strained Israel’s relations with the United States, or having to reject his demands, which could have angered the more extreme wing of Netanyahu’s coalition, reports CNN.

On Sunday evening, Netanyahu reportedly told the security Cabinet, “There is no more war Cabinet… It was part of the coalition agreement with Gantz, at his demand. The moment Gantz left, there is no such forum anymore.”

How will dissolving the War Cabinet affect Israel and the war?

The disbanding of the war Cabinet only further distances Netanyahu from centrist politicians more open to a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Months of ceasefire talks have failed to find common ground between Hamas and Israeli leaders. Both Israel and Hamas have been reluctant to fully endorse a US-backed plan that would return hostages, clear the way for an end to the war, and commence a rebuilding effort of the decimated territory, reports The Associated Press (AP).

Netanyahu will now rely on the members of his security Cabinet, some of whom oppose ceasefire deals and have voiced support for reoccupying Gaza.

For now, Netanyahu has kept Ben-Gvir and Smotrich at a distance but he cannot sideline them. Their parties hold 14 seats in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, and their withdrawal could lead to the collapse of the collation Cabinet and the end of Netanyahu’s term in office.

However, the move to dissolve the war Cabinet gives Netanyahu leeway to draw out the war to stay in power. The Israel PM’s critics accuse him of delaying because an end to the war would mean an investigation into the government’s failures on 7 October and raise the likelihood of new elections when the prime minister’s popularity is low .

“It means that he will make all the decisions himself, or with people that he trusts who don’t challenge him,” Gideon Rahat, chairman of the political science department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem told AP. “And his interest is in having a slow-attrition war.”

What about the decisions on the war?

Now decisions will be made by the government’s main security Cabinet, an Israeli official told CNN, adding that the Israeli PM “will hold smaller forums on sensitive matters”.

The war Cabinet will be replaced by a kitchen Cabinet. The new body will include Gallant, Ron Dermer, and National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi, Al-Jazeera reports quoting newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. It will block Ben-Gvir and Smotrich’s efforts to join the body.

With inputs from agencies