Netanyahu fires Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at critical moment in war

“Your term will end 48 hours from the receipt of this letter. I would like to thank you for your service as defense minister,” read the letter from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, dated Tuesday, November 5. Through this missive, the dismissal of Yoav Gallant, Netanyahu’s colleague in the right-wing Likud party, was announced, citing differences in the way of managing the war in Gaza and Lebanon. Netanyahu made the decision, in addition to being surrounded by criticism over the measure, with the country amid a deep-seated conflict, mired in violence and uncertainty.

Downtown Tel Aviv immediately became the scene of protests as hundreds of people tried to block traffic on one of its main arteries. Meanwhile, calls for people to take to the streets were being made elsewhere in the country. Around 1,000 people surrounded the area around Netanyahu’s residence in central Jerusalem and marches were being organized in other parts of Israel.

Netanyahu and Gallant had clashed on several occasions throughout 13 months of conflict in which the prime minister has always tried to impose his hard line on the army, which was interpreted as a slamming of the door on the possibility of achieving a truce, freeing the hostages in Gaza, and moving toward the end of the war.

Gallant’s replacement at a critical moment in the conflict will be Israel Katz, the current foreign minister. The new head of diplomacy will be Gideon Saar, who was appointed as a minister without portfolio by the government just a month ago amid rumours of Gallant’s departure. Sources close to Netanyahu have not ruled out further dismissals and point to the head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), General Herzi Halevi, and the head of the internal secret services (Shin Bet), Ronen Bar, according to the daily Haaretz.

Netanyahu justified Gallant’s dismissal by citing a growing “crisis of faith” that prevented the former military officer from remaining at the head of the ministry, as he had made statements and carried out actions that “contradict the decisions of the government,” according to a video statement. According to Netanyahu, Israel’s enemies have even benefited from these internal fractures in the cabinet, since they are more than evident. Gallant, for his part, stressed: “The security of the State of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life’s mission.”

The prime minister announced the changes while the fronts in Gaza and Lebanon remain open, with a high level of death and destruction, Iran has promised to respond to the latest Israeli attack, and there are still 101 hostages held in the Strip. For more than two months, none of the captives have left Gaza, dead or alive. Meanwhile, families have come to terms with the fact that around half of them could already be dead. Meanwhile, there is no prospect of a ceasefire agreement, despite the fact that contacts were resumed two weeks ago after being frozen for the previous two months.

Applause from ultra-nationalists

Reactions to the changes in government were not long in coming on a day when Israel, in addition to following the different fronts of the conflict, had its attention focused on the presidential election that its main ally, the United States, held Tuesday. On the one hand, the most radical wing of the government celebrated Gallant’s departure. The head of the National Security portfolio, Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultra-nationalist settler who despite the more than 43,000 dead in Gaza calls for an even tougher hand, congratulated Netanyahu on the social network X. Ben-Gvir considered Gallant a burden on “total victory.” “The prime minister did well to dismiss him,” he concluded.

On the contrary, the forum that brings together the families of the hostages, both civilian and military, expressed in a statement its “deep concern” about Netanyahu’s decision and “about how this sudden change may affect the fate of the 101 hostages.” In any case, they are already calling on Katz to “give priority to an agreement” and to “work closely with the mediators and the international community to guarantee the immediate release” of all remaining captives. “The main obligation of the Defense Minister is to guarantee the security of our citizens [...] Our future as a society depends on the return of all the hostages and the end of this war,” they stated.

For opposition leader Yair Lapid, who has called on citizens to protest in the streets, Gallant’s downfall is “an act of madness.” “Netanyahu is selling out Israel’s security and army fighters for his shameful political survival,” he wrote on X.

The government crisis coincides with a new scandal that has hit the prime minister after it emerged that leaks by people close to him may have undermined contacts and negotiations to secure the release of the captives, according to a court investigation. Netanyahu denies this, while opposition members and relatives of the hostages accuse the government of sabotaging the negotiations.

A statement issued shortly before the defence minister’s dismissal cited an “unprecedented campaign against the Prime Minister’s Office in the midst of a war.” According to this version, it is an attempt to “inflate accusations against the prime minister and those around him,” but the “present matter will also not yield anything whatsoever,” the statement added. “After a year in which there has been a flood of criminal leaks from security cabinet discussions and discussions regarding the hostages and the missing, which have provided our enemies with highly valuable intelligence, the only two investigations that have been opened are directed against the Prime Minister’s Office.”

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is one of those who has been held by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza since October 2023, said during one of the protest marches in Tel Aviv that the leaks, which appeared in the UK-based Jewish Chronicle and the German tabloid Bild, “support Netanyahu’s propaganda lies to scupper the deal” that would allow them to return home.

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