Gallant said to eye unity government with Lapid, Gantz to counter overhaul strife
Senior Likud member reportedly wants opposition chiefs to replace Ben Gvir and Smotrich, willing to step aside as defense minister if need be; Dichter slams ‘thugs’ on both sides
Michael Horovitz is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is reportedly considering trying to form a unity government with opposition party leaders Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid and Benny Gantz of National Unity to ease the rift in society caused by the coalition’s judicial overhaul plans.
Gallant has concluded that Lapid and Gantz must urgently be brought into the fold, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — contentious figures in the cabinet who lead the far-right Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties, respectively — should be booted from the coalition, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday, without citing sources.
According to the report by veteran columnist Nahum Barnea, Gallant is willing to give up being defense minister in order to make such an arrangement work.
Gantz’s Blue and White party partnered with Netanyahu in a short-lived 2020 unity government, while Lapid took his Yesh Atid to the opposition, refusing to collaborate with the Likud party leader due to his ongoing corruption trial. Gantz has since said that Netanyahu has expended all of his political capital with him.
Gallant made a failed last-ditch call for a compromise on the first piece of the government’s overhaul legislation, the “reasonableness” bill, which was approved by the Knesset Monday, limiting judicial review of governmental and ministerial decisions.
The coalition’s proposals have ignited sustained, mass public protests, and opposition from military personnel, business leaders, foreign allies and others.
Gallant has been particularly concerned over military reservists who are refusing to carry out their volunteer duties. The military warned on Tuesday that its combat readiness may soon be harmed if thousands of reservist troops in key positions, especially pilots, do not show up for duty over a lengthy period of time.
Gallant in late March publicly warned that the rift over the overhaul was causing divides in the military that posed a tangible threat to Israeli security. In response to that warning, Netanyahu ordered Gallant’s firing, a move that sparked intensified national protests, in turn leading Netanyahu to temporarily suspend the legislation for three months and withdraw Gallant’s dismissal.
Senior members of Likud told the Ynet news site Friday that the coalition should only pass further overhaul laws in agreements with the opposition, instead of unilaterally.
“It is forbidden to allow [Justice Minister Yariv] Levin to unilaterally legislate as he plans to in the next [Knesset] session,” one unnamed senior party official said, adding that Netanyahu and his associates understand that the bills are causing a great deal of damage.
“We need to break with Ben Gvir and all the extremist actors in the coalition that only cause damage to Likud,” an unnamed Likud minister told the site.
The comments reflect public calls by moderate Likud members concerned with the direction the party has taken. MK David Bitan said Wednesday the party’s future should not continue to be determined by “one person.”
It was not immediately clear if Bitan was referring to Netanyahu or Levin, who was widely seen as refusing all efforts to moderate or compromise on the reasonableness law.
Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter on Friday slammed “thugs” on both sides of the judicial overhaul debate, comparing them to military officers who, on the eve of a surprise attack by Israel’s neighbors on Yom Kippur in 1973, didn’t believe Israel could be threatened despite intelligence warnings.
“Exactly like Yom Kippur in 1973, conceptual thugs put the security of the country in a lot of danger. Today, there are thugs that are endangering the country by dragging it into extreme legislation, or by propelling it into extreme and violent protest,” Dichter, a former head of the Shin Bet security agency, wrote in a Facebook post.
“‘Thugs’ don’t have to be a massive force, they use force en masse: physical power, financial power, economic and business power,” said Dichter, who voted in support of the “reasonableness” law on Monday along with all 63 other members of the coalition.
“The sane people from both sides, who are the overwhelming majority, are against the thugs on all sides, who are a minority that want an explosion,” he said, adding: “Together we will win.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
