The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly approved the joining of extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to the war council in Israel.

The Israeli authority revealed that the mini-forum for managing the war is sometimes held informally, and that Netanyahu requested that nothing be published about Ben Gvir’s joining.

Israeli Army Radio quoted Ben Gvir, head of the "Otzma Yehudit" party (a Jewish force with 6 seats in the Knesset out of 120), as saying that he wants to "make changes in the war council," stressing that if he is not included in the council, he will... To disable it and disturb it.

Yesterday, Monday, Ben Gvir accused Prime Minister Netanyahu of “making decisions alone and isolating his partners in the government,” adding, “We did not come to cheer on the podium, we came to influence.”

On June 9, two members of the war council from the State Camp party, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, announced their withdrawal from the war council.

Later, the council was dissolved, according to Hebrew media, but Netanyahu continued to conduct consultations related to the management of the war in a smaller forum that included Defense Minister Yoav Galant, Shas party head Aryeh Deri, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Drimmer, and National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi.

Threats

The Israeli newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth" quoted unnamed sources in Ben Gvir's party that as long as their demand for Ben Gvir to join the war council was not met, they would resort to "disrupting the work of the coalition," including by disrupting voting on draft laws proposed by the coalition.

On more than one occasion, Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to withdraw from the government if a deal was reached with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to exchange prisoners that would stop the war.

In a related development, the Walla website reported that there are indications that the relationship between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy is getting worse, and the Israeli website added that Netanyahu may soon make a decision regarding Halevy’s future as the army’s investigations near the end.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation also quoted a source in the religious "Shas" party as saying that Ben Gvir's actions undermine the stability of the government and may bring it down.

The War Council is the narrowest political and security body in Israel, and it is concerned with making political decisions in times of war.

Since last October 7, the Israeli occupation forces, with American support, have been waging a devastating war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, which has left more than 126,000 martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has claimed the lives of dozens of children.