Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the chairman of the National Unity party in Israel, Benny Gantz, will now be working together in what is being called a united government. The two reached an agreement to form the emergency government five days into Hamas’s war against the Jewish state. Benny Gantz suggested it just a day after the initial attack but it took a while for the other side to clear it.
The new government is creating a small war cabinet that will include Netanyahu and Gantz, along with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and leave a spot open for the leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, if he decides he would like to enter on behalf of his party, Yesh Atid.
Four members of Knesset from the National Unity party — Gadi Eisenkot, Gideon Sa’ar, Hili Trooper, and Yifat Shasha-Biton — will join the war cabinet without having any specific portfolios. Eisenkot was chief of staff between 2015 and 2019. Sa’ar was a previous justice minister, Trooper is former minister of culture, and Sasha-Biton serves as the current minister of education.
Sasha-Biton and Trooper will be observers to the cabinet, along with strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer – who also holds American citizenship. Five members of Mr. Gantz’s National Unity party will assume ministerial status in the current government without assigned portfolios.
Netanyahu and Gantz made a joint statement expressing that, during the war, no bills or government decisions unrelated to the conflict will be pursued. All the senior appointments, including the Bank of Israel governor, will be automatically extended.The existing coalition was welcoming to the unity idea, except for national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who initially voiced opposition during the meeting at IDF headquarters Tuesday. Some hours later, however, he posted on his X account: or twitter account “Congratulations on the unity, now we have to win.”
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