Israel's Gantz set to leave government as ultimatum deadline approaches

The deadline set by Israel's War Cabinet member Benny Gantz for his National Unity Party to leave the government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not make the changes Gantz laid out in May will be reached on June 8.

Gantz said on May 18 that his party would leave if Netanyahu did not adopt six objectives: returning the hostages; demolishing Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip; 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 an outline for standardized national service in which all Israelis serve the country.

“If you choose to lead the nation to the abyss, we will withdraw from the government, turn to the people, and form a government that can bring about a real victory,” Gantz said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

While Netanyahu publicly rejected the demands, the new Israeli proposal on a hostage deal with Hamas – which the entire war cabinet reportedly supported, and the details of which US President Joe Biden revealed in a speech on Friday – was not far from Gantz's demands, and therefore it is unclear whether he intends to quit the government at week's end.

Earlier this week, the National Unity Party leader said that a proposed outline for service for an ultra-Orthodox draft would not lead to the recruitment numbers needed by the state or promote national equality, and meeting this was another demand he made of Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, members of Gantz's party have begun to take steps in opposition to the government. MK Orit Farkash Hacohen last week put forward a bill to form a National Committee of Inquiry on the events leading up to, during, and after October 7. In addition, MK Pnina Tamano-Shata put forward a bill to disperse the Knesset, which would lead to an election.