A few days ago, Benjamin Netanyahu got publicly rebuked by his Likud ally and defense minister Yoav Gallant over the lack of a plan for "day after" governance in Gaza. Gallant demanded that Netanyahu make a decision on how to put "non-Hamas Palestinian entities" as the IDF destroys Hamas infrastructure, both physical and political. “Indecision is, in essence, a decision,” Gallant argued, that would lead to one of two unsustainable default outcomes: the return of Hamas or another Israeli military occupation of Gaza. Netanyahu responded with an angry rebuttal that more or less accused Gallant of putting the cart before the horse, with Hamas still fighting the IDF across Gaza.

By yesterday, the temperature appeared to have cooled between the two Likud leaders. Today, however, opposition leader Benny Gantz delivered an ultimatum to Netanyahu that echoed Gallant's criticisms. If Netanyahu doesn't have a plan by June 8 that addresses the "day after" issue and five more issues, Gantz announced that he would leave the unity government, a move that would almost certainly force elections in Israel:

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

1. The return of the hostages,
2. The demobilization of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip,
3. Determining a governing alternative in the Strip,
4. The return of the residents of the north by September 1,
5. Promoting normalization,
6. Adopting an outline for creating a standardized Israeli national service.

"If you choose to lead the nation to the abyss, we will withdraw from the government, turn to the people, and form a government that can bring about a real victory," Gantz said in his statement.

This isn't much different from Gallant's demands, only perhaps only a bit more detailed. Gantz also praised the way the unity government had worked for "many months" after the October 7 atrocities and had accomplished much. However, Gantz declared that "a small minority has taken over the command bridge of the Israeli ship of state and is steering her toward the rocks," a not-so-veiled swipe at the right-wing parties allied with Netanyahu, which are demanding Israeli control over Gaza long-term, and who are utterly opposed to the Palestinian Authority having any kind of control there.

Netanyahu's declaration Wednesday that he was "not prepared to switch from Hamastan to Fatahstan" was intended to show solidarity with those political allies. That makes some sense too, as I wrote at the time, because Fatah has never fully accepted the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state either. Mahmoud Abbas is just cagier about it than Yahya Sinwar, a strategy that infuriates both Israel and Hamas. At the moment, Hamas is very popular in the West Bank too, after having humiliated Israel in a way that Abbas wouldn't have dared. 

The PA isn't a very good option, in other words. If we needed more evidence for that, we got it yesterday when the Times of Israel reported that the PA refused to take clandestine control of the Rafah crossing to Egypt after the IDF seized it. Finding other "non-Hamas Palestinian entities" to run Gaza will be even more difficult as I explained in the earlier post, especially when Hamas clearly retains some fighting capacity. 

Nevertheless, Gantz wants Netanyahu to come up with a plan in three weeks to cover all these issues or face the end of the unity government. Gantz says he wants elections earlier than 2026, when the next elections are scheduled, but also tried to appeal to Netanyahu's better nature, or at least as Gantz sees it:

Gantz says he has known Netanyahu for years as “a leader and an Israeli patriot, who knows well what must be done.”

“The Netanyahu of a decade ago would have done it,” he says. “Can you do the right and patriotic thing today?”

Netanyahu, Gantz charges, must choose “between Zionism and cynicism, between unity and divisiveness, between responsibility and neglect, and between victory and disaster.”

Gantz says his party will be partners if Netanyahu chooses “the national interest over the personal” in the footsteps of Herzl, Ben-Gurion, Begin and Rabin.

“But if you choose the path of the zealots and lead the whole state into the abyss, we will be forced to leave the government,” he warns. “We will turn to the people and form a government that will win the trust of the people.”

It didn't take long for Netanyahu and his allies to respond. Ministers from the smaller right-wing parties basically told Gantz to get out and take his defeatist sentiment with him. Netanyahu wondered why Gantz issued an ultimatum to him rather than to Hamas. Netanyahu implied that Gantz was acting out of personal political ambition rather than concern over national security, and demanded that Gantz answer a few questions of his own:

• Does Gantz want to see the operation in Rafah through to its end, and if so, why is he threatening to topple the unity government during the IDF operation?
• Does he oppose Palestinian Authority rule in Gaza, even if Mahmoud Abbas is not involved?
• Would he support a Palestinian state as part of a normalization process with Saudi Arabia?

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is determined to eliminate the Hamas battalions,” says the PMO, “he opposes bringing the Palestinian Authority into Gaza, and establishing a Palestinian state that will inevitably be a terror state.”

One has to wonder why this conversation is taking place publicly. Isn't this why Israel formed a war cabinet?

It's probably something of a miracle that the unity government lasted this long. June 8 would be one day past the eight-month mark after the Hamas atrocities that launched this war. The clock is ticking -- but it's worth noting that Gantz didn't lay out a plan of his own, either. What would Gantz do differently, and since he's taking this debate public, why isn't he laying out his own plan? 

Stay tuned.