Israeli so-called National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu add a minister to the three-person war cabinet who isn’t from the premier’s Likud party or Benny Gantz’s National Unity.
“As a member of the coalition, a senior minister in the government and a member of the cabinet, I accepted your unilateral decision on the composition of the ‘restricted cabinet’ which does not include me — the national security minister,” the leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party wrote as reported by The Times of Israel.
“I do not intend to confront you on the matter, despite the fact that it is appropriate that the position of the huge number of voters who put their trust in us and asked us to represent them should be heard in the limited cabinet,” Ben Gvir wrote.
“I hereby demand that a member or even an observer be added to the cabinet,” Ben Gvir said, adding that Netanyahu should be the one to select the person.
Five National Unity lawmakers joined Netanyahu’s cabinet, shortly after Palestinian resistance’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, forming a “national emergency government meant to add decades of high-level security experience to the management of the war and isolate far-right influence,” according to the Israeli outlet.
The war cabinet is made up of Netanyahu, Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israeli chief of staff, and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a Netanyahu confidant, are observers to the cabinet.
Source: Israeli media
