Israel Forms an Emergency Wartime Government

Netanyahu joins with opposition leader Benny Gantz to form small cabinet to fight Hamas
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 11, 2023 10:10 AM CDT
Israel Forms an Emergency Wartime Government
An Israeli army column arrives at Sderot, a town close to the Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A top opposition Israeli politician says he has reached an agreement to enter a wartime unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reports the AP. Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and military chief of staff, released what he said was a joint statement with Netanyahu. The statement said they would form a five-member "war management" Cabinet. It will consist of Netanyahu, Gantz, current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and two other top officials serving as "observer" members. The Cabinet will focus only on issues of the war. It appeared that the rest of Netanyahu's existing government partners, a collection of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, would remain in place to handle other issues.

"The most important action [now] is to establish the unity of the nation," Netanyahu said Tuesday, per the Wall Street Journal. "The division within us is over. We are all united. And when we are united, we win." The unusual arrangement cobbles together a degree of unity after years of bitterly divisive politics, as the military appears increasingly likely to launch a ground offensive into Gaza. The government is under intense public pressure to topple Hamas, after its militants stormed through the border fence Saturday and gunned down hundreds of Israelis in their homes, on the streets, and at an outdoor music festival. Israel's chief opposition leader, Yair Lapid, was invited to join the new Cabinet, but he didn't immediately respond to the offer. The Journal notes that he'll have a place reserved for him. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)

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