Gantz to Netanyahu: If you don't change course by June 8 we'll withdraw from government

Israeli Minister Gantz sets June 8 deadline for Gaza plan. Threatens to exit government if demands unmet. Netanyahu office responds with ultimatums.


In a move likely to aggravate political tension at the highest levels of government, Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a deadline of June 8 to agree to a comprehensive strategic plan for the “day after” Hamas in Gaza and threatened to leave the government if this did not happen.

“Lately, something has gone wrong,” Gantz said. “Essential decisions were not made. Essential leadership decisions to ensure victory were not done. A small minority has taken over the command bridge of the Israeli ship of state and is steering her toward the rocks,” Gantz said, referring to Netanyahu’s far-right political partners, who repeatedly threatened in recent weeks that they would bring down the government if he made concessions that Gantz supported.

Gantz listed six objectives that Netanyahu must adopt or face his withdrawal from government:

- Return the hostages.

- Demolish Hamas and demilitarize the Gaza Strip.

- Provide an “American-European-Arab-Palestinian” governing alternative in the Strip that “is not Hamas and not [Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud] Abbas.”

-Return the residents of the North by September 1 and rehabilitate the western Negev.

- Promote normalization with Saudi Arabia as part of a general move that includes “a treaty with the free world and the Arab world against Iran.”

- Adopt an outline for creating a standardized Israeli national service in which all Israelis will “serve the country and contribute to the highest national effort.”