Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz announced Wednesday his centrist National Unity party has introduced a bill to dissolve the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, which would trigger an early election.
It is unclear when lawmakers might vote on the bill, which requires a majority vote to pass. Israeli law stipulates there cannot be another vote for six months if the motion fails.
This’ll be interesting, because staying in power is the only way Netanyahu stays out of court, if not out of prison.
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I don’t know how to interpret this information. Is this people trying to change the leadership or cement it in?
Edit: The key part was missed by the summary bot.
A long-time rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gantz joined the emergency War Cabinet shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. But he has since become increasingly critical of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, saying that the government has de-prioritized the safe return of the remaining Israeli hostages.
Right before October 7th, Israel was in the midst of a huge political upheaval because of the looming judicial overhaul. Gantz was the leader of the opposition, and the main political rival of Netanyahu. The country was extremely divided, almost verging on civil war.
Right after October 7th, Israelis were focused on unity, survival, and combatting Hamas, Hezbollah, and other threats.
Gantz joined the war cabinet mostly to signal that whatever disagreements he and his party have with Netanyahu [of which there are many], he still prioritizes national unity in the face of existential threat.
This unity was fragile, and by now the political infighting in Israel is back in full swing.
In parliamentry systems you can dissolve parliament, requiring an election. It’s usually a way to bypass deadlock. Imagine if, when republicans are fucking around with the debt ceiling and pissing off the country, you could threaten to call a snap election and let them answer to voters then and there.
So if this passes it would basically force a national referendum on netanyahu’s leadership.
If gantz is pushing this, probably he thinks he can win. That could mean netanyahu’s many financial and political crimes being looked into again. Maybe.
It could mean more of a focus on getting hostages back, but it might not lead to much change in gaza:
Gantz’ centrism is not equivalent to Western centrism: Natenyahu’s Likud party and other Israeli nationalists have “gone so right-wing that the center in Israel has changed,” a Middle East Institute think tank fellow told Al Jazeera. Previously serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Israeli Defense Forces, Gantz has overseen two military offensives in Gaza and labeled several Palestinian NGOs terrorist organizations, indicating it is “unlikely” he would improve the conditions for Palestinians living in Gaza
That could mean netanyahu’s many financial and political crimes being looked into again.
Netanyahu’s trial is still ongoing … just at a snail’s pace due to its complexity.
https://apnews.com/article/israel-netanyahu-corruption-trial-courts-4e18ed8f34e65707bd47e37696da4705
That’s called “shifting the Overton window” in case anyone wants to look up other examples
And that’s before we factor in the Western (think US) center is also not in the center…
Yeah people are in for a wakeup call if they think Netanyahu is the cause of all problems in Palestine. Israel has always been like this. It’s just getting more arrogant about it.
Is this a “normal” thing in Parliamentary countries or is this a fascist power grab?
I don’t think this is a fascist power grab. Benny Gantz is a centrist and a one of the main opposition leaders to Netanyahu.
This part is pretty well documented and agreed upon by political experts:
He’s been loudly advocating for a “day after plan” for the War in Gaza, i.e. what is the actual plan for Israels invasion and what are we going to do when it’s done? The day after plan is something Netanyahu has refused to provide. Many speculate that he hasn’t provided it because his plan is full occupation of Gaza and making it fully part of the Israeli state.
This part is conjecture and maybe wishful thinking on my part:
Netanyahu refuses to end the war so that he can stay in power. I think that Gantz recognizes the great international harm that the invasion of Gaza has done to Israel, which will only get worse until the invasion is over and Israel withdraws from Gaza. Gantz sees this as an opportunity make himself prime minister, end the invasion, and start some sort of peace process. This would allow him to start rebuilding Israels reputation and finding ways to establish a more stable peace.
That might be more than wishful thinking. Gantz has personally overseen the invasion of Gaza twice, and he joined the war cabinet right after 10/7. He is definitely no friend to Gaza.
Calling him a centrist is only true in that he’s slightly left of Bibi, which is saying nothing.
He doesn’t want to leave Gaza for Gaza’s sake, he wants to leave Gaza cause he views the current invasion as harmful to Israel.
Are you asking if motion for new elections from a centrist politician is a facist power grab?
The term “dissolve the parliament” is foreign to my American ears. I didn’t realize it just meant time for elections.
Yes, having an election is a normal thing in a democracy.
Lebensraum speedrun any %
It’s not the ruling coalition that’s proposing this, and it’s not dissolution towards fascist rule. Gantz’s party isn’t exactly opposition, but it’s not Likud’s coalition either. And the dissolution is to call for new elections, hopefully to replace Netanyahu and Likud with a slightly less right-wing party like Gantz’s.
Gantz doesn’t look to be willing to build the coalition to replace Bibi, this is rhetoric and politics, nothing more.
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What do you think “dissolving parliament” means?
Hell, even if you’re too ignorant to look it up, even the article preview says “which would trigger an early election”.
