Benny Gantz's faction shows cracks as Israel's war gov't in danger of collapse

Interviews over the weekend by three central figures in Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz's National Unity party highlighted differences of views that could divide the party ahead of a future election, which could occur relatively soon.

The three interviewees, Ministers-without-portfolio Gadi Eisenkot, Chili Tropper, and Gideon Sa'ar, differed on issues of the timing of the party's exit from the government, the price that Israel should pay in a possible hostage exchange for the 136 Israeli captives being held by Hamas in Gaza, policy regarding who should rule Gaza once the war ends, and on other issues.

What are the differences between the three ministers?

The differences were mainly between Eisenkot and Tropper on one hand and Sa'ar on the other.

Sa'ar is the leader of the New Hope faction within the umbrella of the National Unity Party and is more hawkish on issues of national security than Gantz, Eisenkot, and Tropper's faction, Blue and White.

During Eisenkot's interview on Thursday on Channel 12's popular Uvda, the former IDF chief of staff said that a lightning raid to free Israeli hostages in Gaza is extremely unlikely to succeed, and a deal will soon be needed if they are to be released alive. While not completely contradictory, this differed from the war cabinet's insistence that only ongoing military pressure would bring about a hostage deal, a view Sa'ar reiterated during his interview on Channel 14 on Saturday night.

Eisenkot added that Israel should agree to a cease-fire in exchange for freeing hostages, even if the cease-fire were to last for months. Eisenkot stopped short from saying that Israel should agree to Hamas' current demands to completely end the war, but still, the willingness for an extended cease-fire is starkly different from Sa'ar's plan, which is to ramp up military pressure as much as possible.

Regarding the timing of leaving the government, Eisenkot hinted that he could make a decision independent of his party leader, Gantz, adding that Israel's leadership was not telling Israelis the truth about the war, and was unwilling to make necessary decisions regarding the future of the Gaza Strip.

However, Tropper, on Channel 12's Meet the Press on Saturday evening, insisted that one could not "slip a piece of paper" between himself, Eisenkot, and Gantz and that the three would make a joint decision when to leave the government – just as they made a joint decision to join it in the first place.

 Gideon Sa'ar's faction stands alone

Sa'ar, however, was unwilling to commit to joining such a decision. The New Hope leader stressed that he was the leader of a faction that existed separately and hinted that his faction would remain in the government until the end of the war.

Eisenkot and Tropper said that they would stay only as long as they felt relevant in decision-making processes – but would leave the government if they felt that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was delaying strategic decisions for political reasons, even if it meant leaving in the middle of the war.

Another notable difference between Eisenkot and Sa'ar was the topic of Gazan rule at the end of the war.

Eisenkot did not address the issue directly during his interview but stressed the strategic importance of seriously addressing the issue, which Netanyahu has largely refrained from doing.

Sa'ar, however, echoed Netanyahu in focusing primarily on the fact that the Palestinian Authority should not rule Gaza and even went further than Netanyahu in not only opposing the creation of a Palestinian state but saying that doing so would endanger Israel's future.

Eisenkot and Tropper have called for an election in the coming months, and the outspoken differences between them and Sa'ar likely could result in Sa'ar deciding to run independently if an election is indeed held. National Unity is far ahead of every other party in nearly every poll held in the past few months – but in dropping out, Sa'ar will take a number of seats away with him, thus narrowing National Unity's lead.