Israeli war cabinet member in move to dissolve Netanyahu’s government

A member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet has moved to dissolve Israel’s government to unseat the prime minister.

Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party submitted a bill to dissolve parliament on Thursday, citing the “disaster” of October 7. He added the need “to restore the people’s trust and to establish a broad, stable unity government that can safely lead in the face of the tremendous challenges in security, in the economy and in Israeli society” after the Hamas invasion, which claimed the lives of 1,200 in a single day.

The bill was also submitted by Israel’s other opposition parties, meaning it could be brought to a vote immediately.

The application came just days after Mr Gantz said he would not support Mr Netanyahu’s continued war in Gaza without a post-war plan. There have been weekly mass protests across Israel calling for the resignation of the country’s longest serving prime minister, Mr Netanyahu.

However, in a survey published Wednesday by Israel’s Channel 12, Mr Gantz, the former defence minister, did not emerge as a shoo-in to succeed the incumbent prime minister.

Results showed that 36 per cent of people named Mr Netanyahu, the head of the Likud party, as the most suitable prime minister against Benny Gantz, who received 30 per cent of the votes in a run-off between the two.

However, on a party level, the results were much closer, showing the National Unity Party would receive 25 seats – just four seats fewer than the previous survey – while Likud under Mr Netanyahu would receive 21 seats.

Yesh Atid under Yair Lapid would be the third-largest party with 13 seats and Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu, and the Labour Party would each receive 10 seats.

Fellow war cabinet member Gadi Eisenkot also called for elections later this year. On Thursday, the decorated military veteran said: “I think the final quarter of this year is pivotal for rebuilding trust.

“Once the intensive fighting process in Gaza concludes in a few weeks, we need to establish a mutually agreed-upon election date. If not, make every effort to democratically expedite elections and rekindle trust in all political parties.”

With global pressure on the government mounting amid the war in Gaza, including arrest warrants being requested for the prime minister and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, it adds yet more pressure on Mr Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister has vowed to continue the war until the elimination of Hamas and the return of the remaining 125 hostages in Gaza.

The Likud party said that “breaking up the unity government is a reward for [Hamas’ leader Yahya] Sinwar, a capitulation to international pressure and a fatal blow to efforts to release our hostages. In the middle of a war, Israel needs unity and not division.”