Benny Gantz, man in the middle squeezed out by Israel's Netanyahu
Israel, as hundreds of thousands of Israeli reservists rushed to join the ranks to fight Hamas, Benny Gantz said he felt it was his duty to join the war effort.
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«This is not a political partnership I am in,» the centrist former general told a group of reporters, shortly after agreeing to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an emergency wartime government of unity. Instead, it was «destiny».
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«Hamas started the war but Israel will win it. There is no doubt about it. We will win this war,» he said.
Now, eight months in, the early confidence of those remarks made as Israel was starting to get back on its feet following the shock of Oct 7, appears to have ebbed.
Having tangled repeatedly with the prime minister and the hardline nationalist religious parties in his coalition, Gantz has quit, three weeks after laying down a deadline for Netanyahu to come up with a clear postwar strategy for Gaza.
His departure will remove one of the few in Israel's government who still appeared to enjoy the confidence of a U.S. administration whose frustration with Netanyahu has become ever more evident as the war has gone on.
Even before the deadline, he had appeared increasingly unhappy with the government, quarrelling over issues ranging from the army leadership to opening a path towards a two state solution with the Palestinians. In April he called for new elections to be held in September, only to see the call rejected.
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