Gadi Eisenkot at the 30th anniversary of his son Gal who fell in the Gaza Strip, January 5, 2024/without
An outside observer of the deteriorating relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the chairman of the state camp Benny Gantz may at times feel a strong sense of de Jaune. As in their first round together, sometime in the Corona government in 2020, Gantz came to the rescue at the beginning of the war to save Netanyahu from a national disaster and patriotically got under the stretcher at the time of the greatest disaster Israel has known; and as in the first round, it didn't take too long before Netanyahu began to belittle and hit his lifeline.
Gantz gave Netanyahu time and oxygen to recover at the lowest moment of his career, and domestic and international legitimacy to conduct one of the wars the most difficult in the country's history. But he, from the beginning, took it for granted and did not give anything in return, and especially not if it created a conflict with his partners in the coalition, who continue to steer the wheel in extreme directions. All the demands of the state camp to change the priorities in the budget were met Ridiculously, the commitment to extend all security appointments during the war was abandoned in favor of Ben Gabir's revenge at the Shevast Commission, the requests to make decisions about the day after in Gaza were texted for weeks.
The war cabinet, which according to the agreement is supposed to meet every 48 hours, is called whenever it is convenient, in maneuvering with the expanded cabinet with Ben Gabir and Smotrich, and according to its changing coalitional and diplomatic needs from time to time.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot/image processing, Tomer Neuberg/Flash 90, Reuven Castro
Last week, Netanyahu excluded Gantz and Eisenkot from crucial consultations on the repatriation negotiations for the repatriation of the abductees in Cairo. Like a flashback that brings up forgotten things from the past, from the talks on the Abraham Accords in the summer of 2020, which the prime minister hid from whoever was the alternate prime minister at the time, Netanyahu is trying to keep the heavy political cards close to his chest only, to manipulate them according to his flute. And even when it seems that he is trying to maintain a normal working relationship, it is for personal instrumental needs; this week, he convened the war cabinet three times, right by the book, and Gantz even came to the cabinet meeting, for the first time in a long time , to unanimously approve a statement against unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that was approved later this week in the Knesset by a rare majority of 99 MKs, all according to Netanyahu's campaign.
Last night, the War Cabinet sent, together, the Israeli delegation to continue the hostage talks in Paris, and in a joint decision even expanded the negotiation mandate, but at that very hour, Netanyahu's maneuvering continued: in a separate discussion, he approved with Smotritz thousands of new housing units in Ma'ale Adumim in response for the attack, without Gantz and Eisenkot even being in the loop.
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Not the first time that Netanyahu keeps the heavy political cards close to his chest.
Avraham/AP agreement signing ceremony
Gantz is quietly accumulating all the tricks and shticks, maneuvers, rejections and violations, and is content with occasional jabs and scoldings in the weekly televised statements to express his displeasure, but the stronger message is that he is not going anywhere yet.
"We need to bring the abductees home, that's the most important thing," he said yesterday to the Kaplanist protesters who came outside his home in Rosh Ha'Ain to pressure him to resign.
"We are at war," he replied, and spoke of the need for consensual elections, and not through the streets.
Well, Netanyahu clarified this week what the agreed date is on his part - in three years - as far as possible from the 7/10 default registered in his name and in the name of his government.
In closed conversations with Likud members, he talks about the first or second half of 2025. Every additional month with Gantz brings him a little closer to the target date.
Unlike the first round with Netanyahu, in the Corona government, when Gantz fell in the polls to the bottom of the blocking percentage, this time he soared in public opinion to heights he had not known since his entry into politics and recaptured the premiership for the prime ministership.
He knows that a significant part of his new mandates will go to a new or old candidate in the right-wing party at the first opportunity, but for now - most of them prefer him inside, and not leave Netanyahu with only Ben Gabir and Smotrich pulling to the sides.
This is also the great fear of the families of the abductees, that their loved ones will not be the most important thing, as Smotrich said, if Gantz and Eisenkot do not press for them from within.
But the more Netanyahu manipulates and isolates them from making the decisive decisions - the last argument of influence is also eroded and the question arises as to whether there is any point in the partnership, other than wasting time.
A slight feeling of de Jaune to the third rib last time.
Gabi Ashkenazi/Reuven Castro
The results of the Paris summit may also largely determine the future of the War Cabinet.
The one who will mark the end of the saga will not be Gantz, but Eisenkot, who already announced in an interview with Ilana the fact last month that he knows what his red line is, which is related to both the abductees and the way this war should be conducted.
The "Izenkot document" revealed this week by Yaron Avraham on News 12, with its harsh criticism of Netanyahu and the war cabinet's shuffling in making significant decisions and achieving the goals of the war is another signal that his patience is running short and is bringing him closer to the door.
Here, too, there is a slight sense of De Je Vue to the third party last time, Gabi Ashkenazi, who at one point told Netanyahu "Khalas" and issued a public ultimatum to his budget games, to the chagrin of Gantz who wanted to take more time.
But Eisenkot's special public status and values, which has intensified since he got his son Gal, gives his voice a different power, and once he decides to go out - Gantz will have no choice but to follow him and go out with him.
More on the same topic:
Benny Gantz
Benjamin Netanyahu
Gadi Eisenkot
War of Iron Swords
Gaza war
abducted