Israel, opposition leader Lapid: “Netanyahu is a threat to our very existence. Gantz help us bring down the government”

After Iran’s announced attack on Israel – a response to the raid in Syria which hit the Tehran embassy on 2 April – the war cabinets led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continue, from which no decision has yet emerged, making the split within the government clear: on the one hand the extremist component, […]

After the announced attack of Iran to Israel – response to the raid in Syria which hit the embassy of Tehran on April 2 – the war cabinets led by the Israeli prime minister continue Benjamin Netanyahufrom which no decision has yet emerged, making the split within the government: on the one hand the extremist component, led by right of government and with the Minister of Security Ben Gvir asks acrushing counterattack”; on the other, the centrist leader Benny Gantzwho on Sunday proposed the formation of “a regional coalition” on the model of the one that helped Israel intercept Tehran’s attack on Saturday night. Meanwhile, the leader of the Israeli opposition Yair Lapid he appealed precisely to the centrist Gantz and others Gadi Eisenkot (both from the National Unity party) asking them to leave the national emergency government and the War Cabinet and to “overthrow the executive” led by Netanyahu. According to Lapid, the prime minister and his government have “become one existential threat for Israel.” Both Gantz and Eisenkot were part of the opposition until the beginning of the attacks on Gaza, then they decided – despite not sharing Netanyahu’s politics – to join the current government.

As reported by Times of IsraelLapid, addressing the press before his Yesh Atid party’s weekly meeting in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, said that both friends and enemies of Israel “feel the smell of weakness” of the current government. “Last week I was in Washington for meetings with the entire US administration,” he added, “they are shocked by this government: by the lack of responsibility, by the lack of professionalism, by the bad management“. “The best way to influence politics is to help us – explained Lapid, addressing the two – to overthrow this executive. And form a new one in which Gantz can be prime minister. Every citizen – he then added, quoted by the media – would be happy to have Eisenkot as Defense Minister.”

A reshuffle that would probably also align with Israeli public opinion, if we consider that the latest polls – carried out by the Israeli broadcasters Canale 11 and Canale 12 6 months after the Hamas attack – showed that, if we were to vote today, the current coalition he would no longer have a majority. And the first party in the country and in the Knesset would be that of the centrist Benny Gantz. Furthermore, a recent poll found that nearly three-quarters of Israelis want Netanyahu to resign, with half the country calling for early Knesset elections. Currently, however, even if the National Unity Party were to withdraw its support from Netanyahu as Lapid hoped and as their ally New Hope recently did, the prime minister would still have enough votes in the Knesset to remain in office. In recent days, Gantz asked Netanyahu to “agree to set a date for the elections in September”, a request that was rejected by the prime minister.

This is not the first time Netanyahu has found himself in one delicate political situation within his own coalition. Already in January 2024 Gantz’s party had begun to sting the government. Not even 24 hours after the statements with which Netanyahu had rejected the possibility of negotiations for the birth of a State of Palestine and announced “many more months of war”, the war cabinet minister Eisenkot had denied this in a television interview: “It is necessary, within a few months, to bring the Israeli voter back to the polls and hold elections to renew trust because in at this moment there is no trust.” That said, it wouldn’t be easy for Gantz and Eisenkot distance yourself from previous Israeli military operations, if they intend to do so, having agreed, unlike Lapid, to join the war cabinet.