What will be the impact of Gantz’s departure from the government?

Barring any unforeseen events, War Cabinet member and Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Gantz is expected to take his eight-member faction out of the Netanyahu government on Saturday night. With his departure, the national emergency government and the war cabinet formed last October after he joined forces with Netanyahu will be dissolved.

What precipitated Gantz’s departure? Are new elections upon us? How will his decision affect the trajectory of the war?

Two forces are responsible for Gantz’s move: the Biden administration and the far-left, anti-government political campaigners popularly known as the Kaplan force. Gantz joined the government in response to U.S. pressure and a call from the far left to undermine the government from within. He is leaving due to pressure from both.

As Politico reported on Thursday, Biden’s main focus these days is to end the war as quickly as possible. To achieve this goal, he is applying pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to capitulate to Hamas’s demands for a permanent ceasefire.

“The president and his aides are working to make sure Netanyahu is feeling the squeeze from all sides,” the magazine reported.

The report explained that Biden and his team are working not only with international actors but with “Israeli citizens and Netanyahu’s political allies and foes alike.”

The main Israeli citizens in question are the deep-pocketed far-left political campaigners that have been carrying out protests, riots and other direct-action campaigns since 2019 to oust Netanyahu and the political right from power. Since Netanyahu returned to the premiership in December 2022, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and other senior officials have regularly met with leaders of the Kaplan force in Israel and in Washington.

Although Gantz’s departure is significant, it isn’t a surprise. When he announced his agreement to serve in a national emergency government days after Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion and slaughter, most Israelis were relieved. At a moment of national peril, Israelis believed it was imperative to abandon the domestic rancor that had characterized life in Israel during the Kaplan force’s 10-month insurrection that preceded Hamas’s invasion.