The war cabinet of Israel was formed on 11 October 2023, five days after the beginning of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. The opposition party National Unity joined the thirty-seventh government led by Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister.
Negotiations began immediately after the outbreak of the war.
The war cabinet consists of Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister; Yoav Gallant, the minister of defense; and former Chief of the General Staff, Benny Gantz. There are two observers, Gadi Eizenkot and Ron Dermer.
Background
The 2023 Israel–Hamas war is an ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas. Part of the broader Gaza–Israel conflict and following an uptick of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war began with a militant invasion of Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023. The responding Israeli counteroffensive was named Operation Iron Swords by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Hostilities were initiated in the early morning with a rocket barrage of at least 3,000 missiles against Israel and vehicle-transported incursions into its territory. Palestinian militants broke through the Gaza–Israel barrier and forced their way through Gaza border crossings, attacking nearby Israeli communities and military installations. At least 1,200 Israelis were killed, including a massacre at a music festival where at least 260 civilians were killed. Israeli soldiers and civilians, including children and elderly, were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. Hamas abducted at least 199 people, taking hostage both Israelis and persons of several other nationalities.
The war represents a tipping point in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the Gaza–Israel conflict, which followed a violent year that saw the increased expansion of Israeli settlements and clashes in Jenin, Al-Aqsa mosque, and Gaza, which killed almost 250 Palestinians and 36 Israelis; Hamas cited these events as justification for the attack and called on Palestinians to join the fight to “expel the occupiers and demolish the walls”. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared states of emergency and war, vowing a “mighty vengeance for this dark day”.
Negotiations toward an emergency unity government
Among opposition parties, Yesh Atid leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz, Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman, and Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli issued a joint statement expressing full backing for the IDF and unity with the government, saying: “In times like these, there is no opposition and coalition in Israel.”
Netanyahu proposed that Yesh Atid and National Unity enter an emergency unity government with his Likud-led coalition after Lapid urged Netanyahu to put “aside our differences and form an emergency, narrow, professional government”. Lapid said that Israel could not effectively manage the war with “the extreme and dysfunctional composition of the current cabinet” and called upon Netanyahu to eject the far-right Religious Zionist Party and Otzma Yehudit parties as a condition for Yesh Atid to join an emergency unity government.
The National Unity party met with Likud on 9 October to discuss a possible unity government, with National Unity likely to join such an arrangement. Likud said the emergency unity government would be similar to the one formed before the Six-Day War in 1967. Levi Eshkol and then-opposition leader Menachem Begin joined hands for the duration of the War in the thirteenth government of Israel.
The National Unity party agreed to join the government on 11 October. Lapid’s Yesh Atid party ultimately did not join the war cabinet, with Lapid citing three issues: the inclusion of officials who failed to prevent the Hamas onslaught that precipitated the war, the continued inclusion of “extremists” in the government (a reference to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who are both on the far-right and sit on the Security Cabinet of Israel), and the simultaneous existence of a War Cabinet and Security Cabinet that Lapid predicted would be unworkable and insufficient. Lapid said he would support the war effort from outside the government.
Approval by Knesset and scope of agreement
The formation of the war cabinet was approved by the Knesset on 12 October. The composition of the preexisting government was modified: MKs voted, 66–4, to approve the addition of five National Unity ministers (Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot, Gideon Sa’ar, Chili Tropper, and Yifat Shasha-Biton) to the government as ministers without portfolio, and unanimously voted to remove the health portfolio from Interior Minister Moshe Arbel and elevate Uriel Buso of the Shas party to the post of health minister.
As part of the deal, Netanyahu and Gantz also agreed to freeze all new non-war, non-emergency legislation, including the highly controversial judicial overhaul legislation and agreed that the war cabinet would meet at least once every 48 hours. The war cabinet has the authority to “update, as necessary, military and strategic aims for the conflict” but its decisions are subject to approval from the Security Cabinet of Israel.
On October 16, Netanyahu’s Likud party announced that Yisrael Beytenu, led by Avigdor Lieberman, had agreed to join the emergency government. However, later the same day, Lieberman denied reaching an agreement with the government, saying that the offer to join the Security Cabinet was insufficient. Lieberman said that he wanted a seat on the smaller war cabinet instead. He said his party would “continue to support the government’s actions that are meant to eliminate Hamas and Hamas leaders” but that he had “no intention of being the 38th minister in the government and be used as a fig leaf.”
Members of the war cabinet
There are three members and two observers:
| Portfolio | Minister | Party | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime Minister | Benjamin Netanyahu | Likud | Chair | |
| Minister of Defense | Yoav Gallant | Likud | Member | |
| Minister without portfolio | Benny Gantz | National Unity | Member | |
| Minister of Strategic Affairs | Ron Dermer | Independent | Observer | |
| Minister without portfolio | Gadi Eizenkot | National Unity | Observer | |
Notes
- ^ The list of groups included Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Lions’ Den.
- ^ In 2023, before the offensive started, at least 247 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces, while 32 Israelis and two foreign nationals had been killed by Palestinians.
- ^ Dermer is not a member of a political party but is a close ally of Likud leader Netanyahu.
References
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“Today the people are regaining their revolution,” Hamas military commander Muhammad Deif said in a recorded message, as he called on Palestinians from East Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight and “expel the occupiers and demolish the walls.”
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