Gantz warns against judicial overhaul revival: ‘Won’t allow a coup under the cover of war’

National Unity chairman Benny Gantz warns Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against reviving his government’s now largely shelved judicial overhaul, promising that “we will not allow a coup to be carried out under the cover of war.”

“Arrogance, intoxication with power, contempt, and smugness have returned. The coup d’état is on the table,” Gantz tells reporters ahead of his National Unity party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.

The government views Israel’s security establishment as “part of the deep state,” the attorney general as “a problem for the State of Israel,” and the media as “too free,” Gantz contends, referring to recent reports that Netanyahu may move to fire the attorney general, IDF chief of staff and Shin Bet head.

His comments also come in the wake of government efforts to boycott the left-wing Haaretz daily and privatize the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation within two years, effectively closing down the public broadcaster.

“It ended very badly last time, it will end very badly this time too,” Gantz states, calling on Netanyahu to take responsibility and halt the government’s plans before they “end in disaster.”

Turning to the possibility of a negotiated solution to the war with Hezbollah, Gantz argues that “military achievements must be translated into political achievements” and says that Israel has “the opportunity to offer the state of Lebanon a better future” by “joining the moderate alliance instead of the axis of evil.”

Such political achievements can achieved “only after the military achievements have been fully exhausted,” he adds.

“Lebanon has an opportunity to expel Hezbollah from its midst and distance Iran from it, and join the normalization agreements,” he says, insisting that without a political resolution and “tough security enforcement, ​​[Israel’s] military achievement will be lost and the next round will only be a matter of time.”