There is military tension with Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
So where will the defense minister be spending his nights this week?
Will he be burning the midnight oil at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv or at his own office nearby? Will he visit troops in the field? Or will he be making sure he gets a good night’s sleep, which Napoleon said was the key to military victory?
None of the above.
Gantz will be up all night at the Knesset in Jerusalem, voting on endless bills and amendments, enduring three nights of Likud filibusters aimed at exhausting the coalition.
In the last filibuster two weeks ago, MKs debated from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. about whether Construction and Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin should be added to the Rabbinical Judges Selection Committee. The coalition lost due to a mistaken vote made by Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy.
MKs have been wondering why Gantz is still coming to the Knesset plenum. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid have no choice because a prime minister must be an MK.
But Gantz is eligible to resign in accordance with the Norwegian Law, which enables ministers and deputy ministers to resign from the Knesset and be replaced by the next candidate on their party’s list. If the minister quits the cabinet, they can return to the parliament at the expense of their replacement.
When new minister Eli Avidar quits the Knesset this week, he will be the 20th minister or deputy minister to do so, not counting Nachman Shai, who quit Labor’s Knesset list before he would have become an MK. According to the law, Blue and White has one minister or deputy left who can quit: either Gantz or his deputy, MK Alon Schuster.
Likud leaders have cited Gantz’s decision to remain an MK as proof that they can woo him to break up the current coalition and head a rotation government with Likud without initiating an election.
But Gantz’s associates said the truth is actually the opposite. Then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to violate his rotation agreement with Gantz traumatized the Blue and White leader.
Not only will Gantz never trust Netanyahu again, he won’t trust his current coalition partners either.
“There is significance to remaining present in the Knesset, especially at such an early time in this government,” a Gantz associate said.
A source close to the defense minister said it is possible that he will eventually feel comfortable resigning, but it is too soon. That is why he has not let the 64-year-old Schuster quit instead.
Ironically, the bill that will keep Gantz awake the latest this week is an amendment to Basic Law: The Government, which will formalize the Bennett-Lapid rotation and the concept of parity between the coalition’s blocs.
The budget loophole that Netanyahu utilized to initiate the last election will be fixed. But many other loopholes will remain because Bennett and Lapid trust each other.
If the rotation happens as planned by law on August 27, 2023, and Lapid becomes prime minister, that trust will have paid off. If Lapid completes his term, which is set to end on November 11, 2025, that trust will be taken to a new extreme.
But meanwhile, Gantz will remain on the other extreme, up all night monitoring potential threats – both from Israel’s enemies near and far, and from his own political allies beside him in the Knesset plenum.