Netanyahu, Gantz and Gallant will sit in emergency war cabinet

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Unity Party Chairman Benny Gantz agreed to form an emergency unity government, according to their announcement on Wednesday evening.

The agreement was reached after hours-long discussions in the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv between the two leaders on Wednesday morning.

As part of the agreement, a war cabinet will be formed to lead the war effort.

The members of the war cabinet will include the prime minister and Gantz, as well as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot (National Unity) will sit in the cabinet as observers.

Five members of the National Unity party, including Gantz, Eizenkot, former Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar, and Knesset Members Hili Tropper and Pnina Tamano-Shatta will also be sworn in as ministers and sit on the Security Cabinet for the duration of the war.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid will not join the government at this time, but Netanyahu and Gantz agreed to reserve a seat in the war cabinet in case he decides to join.

Lapid had conditioned his entrance into the government on a demand to expel Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

The agreement also states that during the duration of the war, the government will not deal with any bills or laws that do not concern the conduct of the war.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin praised the “necessary and right” step to form a unity government and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir agreed, saying, "Congratulations on the unity, now we have to win!"

In the last few days, voices calling to form a unity government have steadily gotten louder on social media, the country’s news channels, and among politicians from all sides.

Coalition members like Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar (Likud) and Economy Minister Nir Barkat (Likud) also decried the political delays and demanded to form a unity government as soon as possible for the sake of unity.

A major stumbling block on the way to a unity government was opposition leader Lapid’s demand to expel Smotrich and Ben Gvir before Yesh Atid would join.

Gantz at first declared he was ready to join while only demanding a “position of influence,” but later concurred with Lapid that Smotrich and Ben Gvir should be sidelined.

On Monday evening, Netanyahu asked the opposition leaders to join an emergency government immediately during a televised address.

Opposition leaders Gantz, Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, and Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman all expressed a willingness to join such a government days ago, with the members of the coalition on Tuesday authorizing Netanyahu to form it.

On Tuesday evening the Likud party had already stated that progress was being made towards a unity government, adding that the prime minister had invited Gantz to meet him in Tel Aviv.

The meeting was postponed, however, due to security meetings dealing with the war taking longer than expected, Israeli media reported.