Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after months of clashes over domestic politics and Israel\u2019s war efforts. <\/p>\n
In a recorded statement Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said that \u201ctrust between me and the minister of defense has cracked.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israel Katz, currently the foreign minister, will become defense minister. Gideon Sa\u2019ar will replace Katz as foreign minister, the prime minister\u2019s office said Tuesday. Neither has extensive military experience, though Katz has served in the cabinet throughout the war. <\/p>\n
The move came as voters in the United States, Israel\u2019s most important ally, voted for their next president. Gallant is a close interlocutor for the US administration, and has been said to have daily conversations with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. <\/p>\n
The reshuffle also comes as Israel awaits a potential retaliatory attack from Iran. <\/p>\n
Gallant responded to the decision shortly after it was made public, posting on X that the \u201csecurity of Israel has been and will always be my lifelong mission.\u201d <\/p>\n
Netanyahu said that he had \u201cmade many attempts\u201d to bridge differences with Gallant, but that they \u201ckept widening\u201d and \u201ccame to the public\u2019s knowledge in an unacceptable manner.\u201d He continued: \u201cWorse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy – our enemies enjoyed it and greatly benefited from it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Minutes after Netanyahu made the announcement, opposition leaders called for Israelis to take to the streets in protest. Protestors outside Netanyahu\u2019s residence in Jerusalem shouted \u201cshame!\u201d In Tel Aviv, families of hostages held in Gaza chanted \u201cBibi is a traitor,\u201d using the prime minister\u2019s nickname. When Netanyahu first sought to fire Gallant last year, over his opposition to proposed judicial reforms, it led to mass nationwide demonstrations. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s political class has long speculated that Netanyahu would fire Gallant and replace him with a political ally to shore up his domestic power. Netanyahu has struggled to maintain a hold over his fragile governing coalition, a muddle of competing interests, whose collapse could spell the end of his leadership. <\/p>\n
The relationship between both men was rarely cordial and often caustic. There was little love lost between them \u2013 over the state of negotiations with Hamas, Israel\u2019s military strategy and Netanyahu\u2019s bid to bring in a sweeping overhaul of the judiciary in 2023. <\/p>\n
Netanyahu and Gallant have often disagreed over the war in Gaza. In August, Gallant told a closed-door Knesset committee that Netanyahu\u2019s goal of \u201cabsolute victory\u201d in Gaza was \u201cnonsense,\u201d according to Israeli media. Netanyahu then took the extraordinary step of releasing a press statement accusing Gallant of adopting an \u201canti-Israel narrative.\u201d <\/p>\n
Gallant was also highly critical of Netanyahu\u2019s emphasis on controlling the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor. He said that prioritizing its control over a ceasefire and hostage deal was a \u201cmoral disgrace.\u201d In the cabinet, he voted against continued occupation there. \u201cIf we want the hostages alive, we don\u2019t have time,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
But it may be domestic politics that ultimately played the biggest role. <\/p>\n
Netanyahu on Tuesday was forced to withdraw draft legislation that would have allowed ultra-Orthodox Israelis to get government subsidies for daycare even if the father of the children does not serve in the Israel Defense Forces, as all other Jewish Israelis must do. Netanyahu relies on ultra-Orthodox parties to govern, and they have threatened to upend his coalition if they are forced to serve in the military en masse. <\/p>\n
Gallant had been outspoken against the idea that ultra-Orthodox Israelis be exempt from service, saying that \u201cthe security system under my leadership will not submit it to legislation.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sa\u2019ar, whom Netanyahu has tapped for foreign minister, is thought to be an influential interlocutor to the ultra-Orthodox parties. Netanyahu, in his statement, said that Sa\u2019ar\u2019s appointment \u201cwill enhance the stability of the coalition and the stability of the government, and these are very important at any time, but especially at wartime.\u201d <\/p>\n
Also on Tuesday, Israeli police announced that a criminal investigation had been opened \u201cconcerning events at the outset of the war,\u201d without offering further details. <\/p>\n
Gallant has repeatedly called for an official inquiry into Hamas\u2019 October 7 attack. It is the second investigation this week that threatens to ensnare Netanyahu. On Sunday, a court revealed that police had arrested a top Netanyahu aide for allegedly leaking classified and faked intelligence to foreign media. <\/p>\n
Netanyahu had faced pressure from far-right members of his cabinet to dismiss him, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir saying in September that he had been demanding Gallant\u2019s ouster for months \u201cand the time has come to do so immediately.\u201d <\/p>\n
His relationship with Gallant deteriorated when the prime minister threatened to fire him in March 2023, after he criticized the government\u2019s judicial overhaul legislation. The bill, which provoked widespread popular protests in Israel, would have granted the ruling coalition more sway in selecting judges. <\/p>\n
Gallant was the first minister to oppose it, saying: \u201cThe deepening split is seeping into the military and security agencies – this is a clear, immediate and real danger to Israel\u2019s security. I will not facilitate this.\u201d <\/p>\n
Netanyahu said he would fire the defense minister, but reversed his position following pressure. The rancor between the two men has persisted and grown since the Hamas attack last October. <\/p>\n
This is a developing story and will be updated.<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after months of clashes over domestic politics and Israel\u2019s war efforts. In a recorded statement Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said that \u201ctrust between me and the minister of defense has cracked.\u201d Israel Katz, currently the foreign minister, will become defense minister. Gideon Sa\u2019ar will replace <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}