From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 5, 2024
Gantz, Gallant schedule simultaneous press briefings, drawing ridicule; Gantz cancels
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz is forced to cancel a press briefing after setting it for the exact same time and place as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that he would be holding a press conference.
Both ministers had announced that they would be speaking — separately — at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv at 7 p.m., drawing ridicule from their political opponents.
Some critics linked the dueling press conferences to growing tensions within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.
Addressing reporters during his Yisrael Beytenu party’s weekly faction meeting, Avigdor Liberman cites the two cabinet members’ decision to speak separately as “absurd,” declaring that it showed “that this cabinet is pure politics.”
“The war cabinet turned into a political cabinet,” he contends.
“What a shame that Gantz canceled his statement at the same time as Gallant’s. I was actually looking forward to hearing them demanding that Netanyahu fire Ben Gvir in stereo,” tweets outgoing Labor chair Merav Michaeli.
