Gallant holds alternate meeting after Netanyahu sidelines war cabinet

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
17 Mar 2024 11:28

The Israeli Security Minister takes it upon himself to get updates on Israeli prisoner exchange negotiations, as the war cabinet edges toward collapse.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Security Minister Yoav Gallant attend a press conference in a military base in "Tel Aviv", occupied Palestine, on October 28, 2023. (AP)

Israeli Security Minister, Yoav Gallant, held an alternate meeting with the heads of Israeli security and military apparatuses after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to convene the war cabinet on Saturday night, according to Israeli media outlets.

Headlining the meeting's agenda was the prisoner exchange file, as participants were informed of intel regarding a possible prisoner exchange deal. Top security and military officials, alongside members of the Israeli negotiating envoy, discussed the proposals presented by the Israeli side during mediated talks with the Palestinian Resistance. Their focus centered on the obstacles hindering the finalization of a deal.

Netanyahu had refused to convene a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet, which is experiencing continuous turmoil as a result of strategic and in-house disputes. The Israeli Prime Minister has been accused of sidelining members of the war cabinet when it comes to crucial decisions and positions such as the prisoner exchange file.

This most recent news adds to evidence of such claims, as Netanyahu denied Gallant, as an essential member of the war cabinet and the larger coalition government, from going over the file with other members of the war cabinet and top Israeli officials.

Netanyahu war cabinet at risk of collapse

Commenting on the incident, the Prime Minister's Office said, "It was announced that the [war] cabinet will meet tomorrow in order to get updates from the negotiating envoy, which will travel to Qatar, and therefore a demand for convening a [war] cabinet meeting tonight (on Saturday night) is but an artificial attempt to make headlines."

The dispute between the head of government and the head of security in "Israel" is not an isolated incident, as the two have consistently been at odds on multiple issues that predate the war on Gaza. Netanyahu has also experienced an avidly publicized squabble with another member of the war cabinet, Benny Gantz, whose "State Camp" movement provided the necessary political backing for the establishment of the war cabinet.

An accumulation of issues spurred by indecisiveness regarding issues such as affairs in the day after the war on Gaza, recruitment of Ultra-Orthodox Jews to the Israeli military, and the prisoner exchange file have ignited reports indicating that Netanyahu will move to abolish the war cabinet and refer decisions to the larger coalition government.

'Israel' approaches dangerous strategic predicament

This comes at a time when Israeli analysts are increasingly pointing to a "dangerous strategic predicament," resulting from a long war of attrition it approaches on both the Northern Front with Lebanon and the Southern Front with the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza.

Amos Harel, a military analyst for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, criticized the Israeli Prime Minister saying that he is the one who should be held responsible for exacerbating "unique" troubles that "Israel" is facing.

The analyst said that "Israel's" woes are a direct result of Netanyahu's personal ambitions and his attempt to escape "justice". He added that Netanyahu does not "present [Israelis] with the dangers of the security and political situation, but instead, he shares legends about his successes and achievements along with false hopes of absolute victory."