Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya and non-resident fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, says Gantz’s ultimatum calling for a post-war plan for Gaza shows there’s now open warfare in the Israeli war cabinet.

“It’s interesting to watch Israeli leadership during wartime turning into a circular firing squad. You essentially have two wars. On the one hand, Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip and, on the other, a war of all against all in the Israeli leadership, seeking to evade responsibility,” Rabbani told Al Jazeera.

“What Gantz has done, and Gallant previously, is they have insisted that Netanyahu put forward a comprehensive political vision for the administration and governance of the Gaza Strip after the war. The problem is that there’s nothing that Gantz, Gallant and Netanyahu can propose that will actually take root, unless Israel first defeats and eliminates Hamas as a significant force in the Gaza Strip. And what we’ve seen eight months in, there’s virtually no prospect of that being achieved,” he said from Montreal.

“Additionally, if you look at the list of six demands that Gantz has put forward, it’s really all pie in the sky – a conscription law that includes the ultraorthodox who refuse it, normalisation with Saudi Arabia, an American-European-Arab-Palestinian administration that excludes both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority … so, I think he’s seeking to establish a position for whatever political battles are coming next.”

(Source: Al Jazeera)