by Lazar Berman at The Times of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his security cabinet Sunday night that the war cabinet, a small forum created on October 11 to manage the campaigns against Hamas and Hezbollah, has been officially disbanded, the Prime Minister’s Office told The Times of Israel on Monday.
The establishment of a narrow war cabinet was a core demand of National Unity party chair Benny Gantz when he joined the coalition a few days after the war started in October. It comprised just three voting ministers: Netanyahu, Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Gantz bolted the coalition last week, taking with him National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot, one of the three war cabinet observers. (The other two were Likud’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Shas leader Aryeh Deri.)
Now that the emergency unity government no longer exists, the war cabinet that emerged as part of that arrangement is no longer relevant, a PMO official explained.
The dissolution had been anticipated, as far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has been lobbying to be added to the forum, something Netanyahu has avoided…
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