Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday established a new forum for managing the war effort with seven members including himself.
The new forum comes some three months after, following the exit from the unity government of National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz, the premier dissolved the War Cabinet set up after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack
Discussions on the war have continued to take place in a small forum that includes Netanyahu and three other former War Cabinet members.
The ministers participating in the new forum are Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Shas Party Chairman Aryeh Deri, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Notably absent is National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. A source told Kan News political reporter Michael Shemesh that Netanyahu snubbed Ben-Gvir in favor of Smotrich because he trusts the Religious Zionism Party head not to leak information from the meetings and he wants to try to convince Smotrich to support an agreement to free the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The ministers will receive security briefings from Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and other senior members of the security establishment as the war against Hamas in Gaza nears its first anniversary and other fronts opened by Iran’s regional terrorist proxies remain volatile, especially Hezbollah in the north, but also in Judea and Samaria.
