Smotrich accuses US of sowing discord as 'Trojan horse' Gantz meets Harris

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has accused the US of seeking to "drive a wedge" among Israelis amid divisions over a visit by Netanyahu rival Benny Gantz to Washington for talks with top US officials, including Vice-President Kamala Harris.

"The US government is looking for places to drive a wedge between Israelis in order to advance its plans, with the help of Gantz," Smotrich, the firebrand minister, said on Monday.

"In this way, Gantz is working to advance their [US] plans to establish a Palestinian state," he added.

Smotrich, the leader of the extremist Religious Zionism Party, urged Gantz to clearly declare his commitment to a decision by the Israeli government and the Knesset to reject a Palestinian state.

Last month, the Knesset [Israel's parliament] voted in support of a government decision to reject unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, Netanyahu opposed Gantz's visit to the US and asked the Israeli ambassador in Washington not to deal with the trip as an official one.

Gantz's US visit was also criticised by Doudi Amsellem, minister of regional cooperation, in a post on social media platform X that said: "Mr Gantz, your entry into government was intended to create unity at a time of emergency, not to be a Trojan horse".

Gantz-Harris meeting

Gantz's visit highlighted tensions in the Israeli government as Gantz, a former Israeli military chief and centrist opposition leader, has been at odds with the far-right Netanyahu on finding an exit strategy to Israel's brutal war on besieged Gaza.

"With friends, we should always speak openly, and that's what we're going to do," Gantz, who joined the war cabinet as a minister without portfolio after the October 7 surprise blitz, told reporters as he arrived at the White House.

Harris, 59, called on Sunday for Hamas and Israel to agree on an immediate ceasefire — and used unusually strong language to criticise Israel for not letting in enough aid to the blockaded enclave.

Harris' remarks came after five months of the Biden government's neglection of unparalleled protests across the US and international calls on Washington to use its influence on Tel Aviv to stop the war, which has continued so far due to the US government's continuous supply of arms and impunity that shielded Israel from UN resolutions.

"The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses," Harris said.

On Monday her talks with Gantz focussed on "getting a hostage deal done, getting aid in, and then getting that ceasefire" that Israel and Hamas are currently negotiating.

"The vice president expressed her deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza," Harris's office said in a statement, adding that she "urged Israel to take additional measures" to increase the flow of aid.

"She called on Hamas to accept the terms on the table," the statement added.

Gantz vs Netanyahu

A Netanyahu critic often touted as a possible replacement should the Israeli prime minister fall, Gantz joined the five-person war cabinet formed after October 7 in a bid to project unity in the country.

But in recent weeks he has pressed Netanyahu on an exit strategy for the war, analysts and Israeli media reports say, with the former defence minister and chief of staff of the armed forces rejecting Netanyahu's stance that only military pressure on Hamas will allow the return of hostages.

Israel continued its deadly carnage on besieged Gaza, which has killed at least 30,534 people and wounded 71,920 others.

The Israeli war has pushed 85 percent of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid its acute blockage of food, clean water, and medicine, and illegal Israeli settlers' deliberate hindrance of urgent aid coming into the besieged enclave, while 60 percent of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

In late 2023, South Africa filed a case before the International Court of Justice [ICJ], accusing Israel of failing to uphold its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.