Israel-Gaza war: top Benjamin Netanyahu rival calls for early elections
- War cabinet member Benny Gantz is seeking snap polls in September, as pressure mounts on the PM over efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas
- Netanyahu’s Likud party rejected the call, but it was welcomed by the leader of the US Senate
Israeli minister Benny Gantz, a member of the war cabinet and main rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called on Wednesday for snap parliamentary elections in September.
Netanyahu faces pressure from several sides, including protests demanding boosted efforts to secure the release of hostages taken in Hamas’s October 7 attack that sparked war in Gaza.
“We must set a consensual date for the month of September, or if you prefer for the first anniversary of the war,” said Gantz, who is also a lawmaker, in a speech from his office in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
Netanyahu’s Likud party rejected the call, but it was welcomed by the leader of the US Senate who last month urged new elections in a strident criticism of Netanyahu’s handling of the war.
“When a leading member of Israel’s war cabinet calls for early elections and over 70 per cent of the Israeli population agrees according to a major poll, you know it’s the right thing to do,” Senator Chuck Schumer wrote on X, formerly Twitter.