Netanyahu's Gaza shock hits Israeli stock market

Benjamin Netanyahu has assumed the mantle of leadership of opposition to Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip by resigning as finance minister as the Cabinet was about to vote on it – but he admitted he can’t stop the withdrawal, set to begin next week.

Netanyahu, a hard-liner and former prime minister with ambitions to reclaim the top job, said he resigned because he fears the pullout will turn Gaza into a “base of Islamic terror” and endanger Israel. Though he couldn’t stop it, he said, he wanted no official part of it.