Benny Gantz lands in US for Harris, Blinken meeting amid row with Netanyahu

Amid tensions with the United States and a political row at home, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief political rival Minister Benny Gantz landed in Washington for meetings with US Vice President Kamala Harris and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“There is only one Prime Minister that makes decisions, and his name is Benjamin Netanyahu,” Transportation Minister Miri Regev (Likud) told Radio Kol Hai.

A staunch Netanyahu supporter, she said it would have been better for Gantz, to remain in Israel in a display of unity and loyalty in wartime.

“He entered the [war-time] government and said he was in favor of unity, so what happened? We are still in a multi-arena war,” Regev said as she accused him of playing politics at Israel's expense.

“It may be that the Americans hear a weakness in” his positions on the war that would make them believe policy options that were contrary to those of Netanyahu were possible, she said.

Benny Gantz lands in US ahead of key meetings on Gaza war, ceasefire

Gantz, who is a former IDF chief-of-staff and former defense minister, is scheduled to meet both Harris, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and Middle East envoy Brett McGurk on Monday, followed by a conversation with Blinken on Tuesday.

Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk posted on X that “I wager @POTUS will drop by; might even invite Gantz into the Oval Office,” as he emphasized that Gantz was a member of Netanyahu’s small war cabinet.

His presence in that cabinet was enough of a justification for those meetings, Indyk wrote.

Gantz's trip comes as Israel is hoping to finalize a hostage deal that would allow for a pause to the war, which is unpopular among the left-wing flank of the Democratic Party, which increasingly views it as Netanyahu’s war.

His trip could be seen as an avenue to build a bridge between the two governments, which are increasingly at odds over the best path to destroy Hamas, to handle issues relating to the upcoming holy month of Ramadan and plans for the day after the war.

Gantz was careful to notify the media that he had personally notified Netanyahu about the trip on Friday so that it could be a coordinated venture.

It was reported, however, that Netanyahu opposed the visit. The Israeli embassy in Washington was instructed not to do anything to help facilitate Gantz meetings with US officials, even though they would not necessarily have needed to be involved.

The reports, plus the fact that Netanyahu himself has yet to visit Washington, gave Gantz an immediate diplomatic boast, particularly given that his National Unity party is leading in the polls against the Prime Minister’s Likud party by a wide margin.

If elections were held today, he would easily be given the option to form a government.  

Netanyahu’s wartime cabinet, government in disarray

The perceived tensions between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden, which has been widely reported on in the media, made it seem as if Gantz was able to relate to Washington in a way that Netanyahu could not. ‘

The subtle message was there even though Netanyahu met with Biden in New York in September and Biden came to Israel in October.

It also added weight to the impression that Netanyahu’s wartime cabinet and government were in disarray. 

Yisrael Beytenu head MK Avigdor Liberman said the trip reflected the complete disunity in the government, especially in the war cabinet, of which Gantz is a member.

The time had come, he told Army Radio, for new elections to replace Netanyahu.

Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem (Likud) issued a sharp attack against Gantz in a post on X, noting that Biden's administration mistakenly viewed the National Unity Party leader as a more palatable alternative to Netanyahu.

In a post on X blasting the trip, he wrote, “Americans probably see you as the address to lead the process for a Palestinian state and the cessation of fighting in Gaza.”

But just as a reminder, “you entered the emergency [war-time] government to create a consensus during the war, not to stop the IDF from winning the war” and using this as an “opportunity to lead the process of establishing a Palestinian state that will eliminate the State of Israel!”