Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, replacing him with Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
The swap ousted one of Netanyahu’s most prominent critics and political foils, replacing him with a key ally as the prime minister faces political crises on multiple fronts.
Netanyahu, announcing the firing, said “trust has eroded” between himself and Gallant.
Gallant was a frequent critic of Netanyahu’s approach to the war in the Gaza Strip.
He had pushed for Israel to wind down the war and prioritize efforts to bring home the dozens of Israeli hostages held there.
That has often put him at odds with Netanyahu, who has been accused by critics and many in the Israeli public of prolonging the war for his own political gain.
Gallant has also butted heads with Netanyahu over the drafting of ultra-Orthodox men into military service. Israel’s ultra-Orthodox minority — which holds outsize political influence — says drafting its men into the military threatens their way of life.
Gallant and military chiefs decided Monday to issue 7,000 draft notices for members of the community.
Netanyahu fired Gallant before in 2023, before the war in Gaza. Gallant broke with Netanyahu then, criticizing judicial reforms that sought to limit the powers of Israel’s supreme court.
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The reforms were deeply unpopular with many Israelis and some reservists refused to sign up for duty. Gallant said the overhaul threatened national security.
The firing set off protests amid a backdrop of widespread demonstrations against the reforms. In response to the public outcry, Netanyahu reversed his decision to fire Gallant.
The White House said it would “continue to work collaboratively” with the next Israeli defense minister after Yoav Gallant’s ouster. The White House National Security Council called Gallant “an important partner on all matters related to the defense of Israel,” in a statement. Foreign Minister Israel Katz is expected to take over the role in 48 hours, pending legislative approval.
“For the past month, North Gaza has been under a near-total brutal siege. Civilians are starving while the world watches,” acting U.N. humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya said in a statement Tuesday. “Israeli military ground operations have left civilians without the essentials to survive.” Israel has continued attacks in the area while preventing most aid from entering, amid increasingly dire warnings about the humanitarian crisis for tens of thousands of Palestinians stranded there. The United States has threatened to withhold military aid if Israel does not take steps to improve conditions.
Benny Gantz, an Israeli lawmaker and frequent critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the firing of defense minister Yoav Gallant was “politics at the expense of national security.”
Gallant had opposed the exemption of ultra-Orthodox Israelis from military service — a central issue for Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition.
Yoav Gallant, following the announcement that he was fired from his post as defense minister, said in a statement that “the security of the state of Israel has always been and will always remain my life’s mission.
Washington Post
