News just broke that Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu have formed an emergency national unity government in Israel. This has been expected for the last day or so. What’s not clear yet is the precise details of that government. Gantz had demanded a war cabinet made up of Netanyahu and his Defense Minister joined to Gantz and his deputy, Gadi Eizenkot. Both of the latter two are former IDF Chiefs of Staff. That would essentially sidestep the entire existing cabinet structure and run the management of the war through those four men.
The initial reports suggest that what they actually ended up with was a three man war cabinet of Netanyahu, Gallant (the Defense Minister) and Gantz. Eisenkot and Ron Dermer, who is essentially Netanyahu’s longtime hype man, will be observers in the war cabinet. There’s a freeze on all legislation not tied to the conduct of the war for the duration of the war. So that means all the judicial coup stuff is frozen in place.
Apparently a position in the war cabinet has been left open for Yair Lapid, the other opposition leader. But he’s said he won’t join any government that still has the two extremist parties in it. So this is like an incentive to bring him in. The reports I’m seeing leave it unclear to me whether that slot is an actual member of the war cabinet along with those three or another “observer” position.
I suspect we’ll get more information shortly on the precise details, which are pretty important.
