◼ The relative unity that has existed in Israeli politics since the October 7 attacks is ending. Benny Gantz, the chief rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, joined the wartime government after the attacks but has now issued an ultimatum: He will leave the government if Netanyahu doesn’t decide on a Gaza plan by June 8. The announcement follows complaints by another member of the war cabinet, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, that Netanyahu hadn’t explicitly ruled out a role for the IDF in governing Gaza after the war ends. Netanyahu already had his share of political enemies before last fall. That thousands of Hamas terrorists were able to infiltrate Israel, kill more than 1,200 people, and kidnap 240 more implicated him in failures in intelligence and military planning. The immediate need to respond to Hamas’s attack and widespread agreement on the need to eliminate the terrorist group, however, encouraged Israelis to put their differences aside. Eight months later, with Hamas still in power, more than 100 hostages still in Gaza, and no clear plan for the end of the war and its aftermath, those differences have resurfaced. While Netanyahu’s coalition would still be large enough to survive Gantz’s exit, it would make the government more fragile and elections more likely.

◼ In coordinated announcements in their respective capitals, the prime ministers of Ireland, Spain, and Norway announced on Wednesday that their nations will formally recognize a Palestinian state. In the U.S., spokespeople for the National Security Council affirmed that the Biden administration remains committed to a two-state solution but also to the requirement that Israel be involved in negotiations for the establishment of Palestinian sovereignty on its borders. The Spanish government made clear that its recognition of this nongovernment is meant to bolster the case for an immediate cease-fire—which in practice amounts to protecting Hamas from destruction. The Israeli foreign minister called it “a gold medal for Hamas terrorists,” and it is hard to imagine what these countries have accomplished other than awarding it.

◼ With the Tories polling more than 20 points behind Labour, the decision by Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak to call a snap election some six months earlier than required was a surprise. Now the Conservatives face a reckoning with the electorate on July 4, not a happy date for unpopular British governments. In 2019, the Tories won a victory that gave them the chance to reshape British politics, but no one had expected that they would do so by, in all probability, making Labour the natural party of government for a long time to come. They managed this by stumbling from blunder to blunder, interrupted mainly by bouts of internecine feuding. With so much choice, it’s hard to pick out the Conservatives’ worst error, but their unwillingness to take on Britain’s dominant soft-Left orthodoxy runs through many of them. If all goes as expected, Labour is unlikely to waste its opportunity.

◼ An NFL player has gotten in trouble again. Not for beating his wife, using drugs, or hiring prostitutes, but for giving an aggressively traditionalist commencement address at a Catholic college. Addressing graduates of Benedictine College, Harrison Butker, the 28-year-old Kansas City Chiefs kicker, reinforced unpopular church teachings and drew some political conclusions. He warned of the “deadly sin [of pride] that has an entire month dedicated to it,” as well as the sins of contraception, cohabitation, “abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia,” and other “degenerate cultural values” and “dangerous gender ideologies.” Saying that women had been told the “most diabolical lies” about what makes them happy, he gave the example of his wife, whose life “really started when she began living her vocation as a wife and mother.” The speech certainly could have used an editor to cut a few strange remarks and fend off misinterpretations. Still, the reaction to the speech has been preposterous. Nearly 225,000 people have signed a petition calling for Butker to be fired. The NFL issued a statement explaining that Butker’s views “are not those of the NFL as an organization.” One teammate, Patrick Mahomes, defended him while expressing some disagreement, as did Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. For now, Butker’s career appears to have survived the debacle, which may yet move the ball for opponents of cancel culture.

◼ Brigadier General Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson, the last surviving World War II triple-ace pilot, has died at the age of 102. Born in California, Anderson learned to fly at 19 and served two combat tours aboard his P-51 Mustang Old Crow. He flew 116 combat missions over Europe, escorting heavy bombers, and is confirmed to have downed at least 16 enemy aircraft as part of the 357th Fighter Group, a.k.a. the “Yoxford Boys.” He had the most confirmed kills of any group in the Eighth Air Force, earning him the title of highest-scoring ace in his squadron. On the 357th’s most active day, it protected B-17s over Brandenburg from an attacking force of 200 Luftwaffe fighters, claiming 56 of the enemy aircraft. Anderson was a lifer, retiring from the Air Force as a colonel in 1972. He later joined the McDonnell Aircraft Company before retiring fully in 1984. He received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2015 and was honorarily promoted to the rank of brigadier general in December 2022. An American aviator of awesome bravery and skill. Prosequor alis, indeed. R.I.P.