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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Cabinet minister Benny Gantz during a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv , Israel , 28 October 2023.
The centrist political party of Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz on Thursday submitted a bill to dissolve parliament, which would lead to early elections.
This is a pretty obvious attempt to oust Benjamin Netanyahu, a longtime rival of Gantz — who in April issued a call for elections to be held in September and recently set a June 8 deadline for the prime minister to deliver a postwar plan for Gaza or he’ll leave the cabinet.
But it’s not clear if Gantz’s National Unity party has enough support to get the measure across the finish line. Netanyahu’s Likud party leads a 64-seat coalition in Israel’s 120-member parliament, while Gantz’s party has just eight seats. National Unity is therefore unlikely to bring the bill to a vote unless it’s clear that a majority would support it. Unsurprisingly, Likud decried the move to dissolve parliament, saying that breaking apart the government would hurt the war effort.
This also comes as Bibi’s popularity, which cratered after Oct. 7, appears to be rebounding. A recent poll found that more Israelis (36%) say Bibi is better suited to be prime minister than Gantz (30%). So, even if elections were held in the near future, the vote wouldn’t necessarily go in Gantz’s favor.