Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz pushed back on Monday against reports that he was visiting the United States against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wishes.
Gantz, a centrist political figure and one of Netanyahu’s chief rivals, is in Washington, D.C., for meetings with senior U.S. officials, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and others. He made the trip despite Netanyahu vehemently opposing him doing so.
Asked if the U.S. should be dealing with him instead of Netanyahu by reporters in the Capitol on Monday, Gantz replied, “No, no, no, Israel has a prime minister, and everything is OK.”
Gantz told the Washington Examiner after leaving McConnell’s office, “The visit is going well. I think that I’m explaining Israel’s interest and how I see the United States’s interest. The relations have been — I’ve been accepted very warmly. [I’m having] good discussions, very open and candid.”
A spokesperson for Netanyahu said after news of the trip emerged last week that Gantz did not request or receive the necessary approval from his office for an official visit. Gantz called Netanyahu to get that authorization last Friday, but the discussion turned hostile, with the latter telling the former, “There is only one prime minister,” according to Netanyahu’s office.
Gantz’s office says the war cabinet minister got the go-ahead from Netanyahu before embarking on the trip, which comes as the prime minister faces plummeting approval ratings among the Israeli people. Gantz, who joined Netanyahu’s far-right coalition government after the Oct. 7 attacks as part of a national unity effort, has experienced the opposite, with his public approval numbers skyrocketing.
His decision to go through with the U.S. visit despite Netanyahu’s disapproval also signals that the prime minister is facing opposition to his handling of the war in Gaza, something he is beginning to face from the Biden administration and Democrats over the Palestinian death toll.
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Harris told reporters before her Monday afternoon meeting with Gantz that the two planned to “discuss a number of things in terms of the priorities that certainly we have, which includes getting a hostage deal done, getting aid in, and then getting that six-week ceasefire.”
Gantz and his team were the ones who requested meetings with the Biden administration, White House officials said ahead of the visit. Two sources in congressional leadership confirmed as much to the Washington Examiner, saying Gantz’s office reached out to set up the meetings.
