New Delhi: With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolving the war cabinet amidst the war with Hamas in Gaza and officially announcing that he will rely on a kitchen cabinet to run the war, questions arise as to why he was compelled to take this measure.
The Israel war cabinet was formed on October 11, 2023, days after the Hamas attack on the Jewish state that claimed over 1,200 lives. In the war that Israel consequently unleashed on Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, over 37,000 people have lost their lives so far and counting.
Israel has come under immense criticism from the international community for its disproportionate response. The war cabinet was established as a smaller, specialised body within the broader coalition government cabinet. This inner cabinet consisted of Netanyahu, his main political opponent Benny Gantz (a former military general), Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three additional members serving as observers: Ministers Aryeh Deri, Gadi Eisenkot (from the government), and Ron Dermer (the Strategic Affairs Minister). The purpose of this smaller group was to focus specifically on security-related matters while operating under the umbrella of the larger cabinet.
“The war cabinet was formed in Israel to rally the cabinet to raise the fight against Hamas into a national cause,” a former Indian diplomat told ETV Bharat on the condition of anonymity. “Today, though Hamas is down on resources since the outbreak of the war in October last year, its political will to fight Israel in different forms remains. However, it needs to patch up with the Palestinian Authority, which it is not doing.”
The Palestinian Authority is internationally recognised as the official representative of the Palestinian people. According to the former diplomat, there have been differences within the Israeli war cabinet about the war in Rafah amidst international calls for a ceasefire.
“The US too has started taking a different view of the Israeli war cabinet,” the former diplomat said. On June 9, Gantz quit the war cabinet citing the lack of a proper plan for Gaza beyond the ongoing war. Gantz’s close ally Eisenkot too followed suit. This left the war cabinet virtually redundant.
