Five days into the war and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Unity leader Benny Gantz today announced the formation of a national emergency government.
According to the agreed guidelines, a small war cabinet will include Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, and Gantz while MK Gadi Eizenkot and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer will serve as observers. Gantz, Eizenkot and MK Gideon Sa'ar will become ministers without portfolio and the first meeting of the new cabinet was convened at 5pm.
The new coalition agreement includes a decision that "all senior appointments will be automatically extended during the war period." Therefore, Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Amir Yaron, who ends his five-year term in December, is expected to remain in the job, certainly as long as long as the emergency government stays in office.
It was also agreed that the National Unity party will have five ministers in the emergency government - Gantz, Eizenkot, Sa'ar and two others. Netanyahu and Gantz met at 11am this morning in the Ministry of Defense headquarters, after their meeting last night was postponed. The agreement came after a long delay, with both sides fortifying their positions. Netanyahu wanted to ensure that final decisions would remain in his hands, but Gantz demanded the establishment of a small and efficient war cabinet without leaks.
The Prime Minister's wife Sara Netanyahu clarified that "unity is the order of the day," despite many reports of her opposition to the agreement.
At the end of last night's cabinet meeting, a statement was issued that "all the participants supported the establishment of a national emergency government and authorized Netanyahu to act for its establishment." However, Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir made pointed statements regarding the possibility of a small security forum being set up, which would not include them.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 11, 2023.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.