Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz announced his resignation from the emergency government during a press conference on Sunday evening. On May 18, Gantz stated that his party would exit the government on June 8 unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met six key objectives: returning the hostages, demolishing Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza, providing a governing alternative in the Strip, returning residents of the North to their homes by September 1 and rehabilitating the western Negev, promoting normalization with Saudi Arabia, and adopting a standardized national service plan requiring all Israelis to serve the country. The move does not immediately pose a threat to Netanyahu, who still controls a majority coalition in parliament. But the Israeli leader becomes more heavily reliant on his far-right allies. Gantz said Netanyahu is “preventing true victory” and “making empty promises,” adding that the country needs to take a different direction as he expects the fighting to continue for years to come. He scrapped a planned news conference Saturday night after four Israeli hostages were dramatically rescued from Gaza earlier in the day in Israel’s largest such operation since the eight-month war began. Gantz called for Israel to hold elections in the fall, and encouraged the third member of the war Cabinet, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, to “do the right thing” and resign from the government as well. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC / AP)