Netanyahu aide says PM preventing postwar Gaza talks to avoid coalition crisis — report

Cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs told members of the war cabinet during a meeting earlier this week that the high-level forum cannot hold discussions on postwar planning for Gaza because this would spark a coalition crisis, Channel 13 reports.

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz fumed at the remark, saying fear of a coalition crisis is not a reason to put off such critical discussions. “The army must know what is planned [for the next phase of the war] in order to prepare for the continuation of the fighting,” Gantz is quoted as having said.

“Since when do we not discuss such things in the war cabinet? Where does it say that it is forbidden to formulate a position on a matter before it is discussed in an expanded forum?” he reportedly added.

After Netanyahu put off the issue for over two months, he agreed to hold a war cabinet meeting to discuss postwar Gaza planning this past Thursday. The decision infuriated far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who demanded that the issue be discussed in the wider security cabinet, of which he is a member, so that he could weigh in.

Smotrich is understood to be even more adamantly opposed than Netanyahu to the PA returning to governing Gaza in any form, which would leave few options other than the IDF reoccupying the enclave — something that both the premier and the security establishment are against.

Netanyahu caved to the pressure and canceled the war cabinet meeting on Thursday, but no date has been set for the security cabinet to discuss the issue.