Israel’s Netanyahu shows who calls the shots with Gallant sacking

We’ve known for months that there is no love lost between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his now former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant.

But this year, there have been reports of stand-up rows and shouting matches between the two men over Israel’s war strategy.

Gallant has vastly more military experience than Netanyahu.

He began his career as a navy commando in 1977 and rose to be a major general in Israel’s Southern Command, overseeing two wars in Gaza between 2005 and 2010.

The suspicion is that Gallant’s military superiority and respect from within the armed forces grated with his boss.

In Israel’s hard-line government, the most right-wing in the country’s history, Gallant was less hawkish than some of his fellow ministers. But he was no dove.

After Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, the country’s biggest ever military humiliation, Gallant was initially fully behind the war in Gaza.

Along with Netanyahu, he faces possible war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court. Both men rejected the allegations made by the ICC’s prosecutor when he sought warrants for them in May.

But in recent months as defence minister, Gallant argued that Israel’s government should prioritise a hostage release deal with Hamas and end the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu hasn’t listened, insisting that continued military pressure on Hamas was the best way to free the remaining Israelis being held.

Since the beginning of the year, Gallant had raised concerns about the lack of a post-war strategy. Again, it fell on deaf ears.

He has pushed for a comprehensive investigation into the military, political, and intelligence failings that led to the 7 October attack.

The prime minister has been resistant, arguing now is not the time.

Gallant was also unhappy at plans to continue to allow Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students to be exempt from serving in the military.

At a time of multiple wars, he said, the country couldn’t afford such luxuries.

Netanyahu, wary of the collapse of his coalition government which has been dependent on support from the ultra-Orthodox parties, paid no heed.

The new Defence Minister, Israel Katz, who up until yesterday was the foreign minister, is more hawkish and much more in step with his boss’s thinking.

Following his appointment, he vowed to “achieve the goals of the war”, including “the return of all hostages as the most important moral mission, the destruction of Hamas in Gaza, [and] the defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon”.

But compared to Gallant, Katz has virtually no military experience.

That will raise concerns here and abroad at a time when Israel is fighting two wars, in Gaza and in Lebanon, which risk further engulfing the wider Middle East.

The cabinet has now lost the last remaining minister who was willing and able to confront Netanyahu, another likely reason Gallant was shown the door.

There have been rumours for months that he was on the verge of being sacked.

The timing of his dismissal on the day of the United States election cannot be ignored.

The former defence minister has a much better relationship with President Joe Biden’s White House than Netanyahu, whose rapport is frosty at best.

His sacking can be seen as one more jab in the eye to the now outgoing US administration.

It will come as no surprise if the Israeli prime minister is much more willing to listen to advice on war strategy handed out by Donald Trump’s team.

Of course, in the merry-go-round world of Israeli politics, no-one will be shocked if this is not the last we hear from Gallant.

He has been sacked as defence minister once before, back in March 2023.

On that occasion, along with many high-ranking military and former military officials, he was unhappy with Netanyahu’s controversial plans to overhaul the judicial system.

His dismissal led to tens of thousands of Israelis taking to the streets calling for him to be reinstated.

After just a few days, Netanyahu was forced to back down and return Gallant to his position.

On Tuesday night, as news broke that he had been sacked again, there were again protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but not on the same scale.

Gallant belongs to the same political party as Netanyahu, Likud, and could one day challenge his leadership in any future elections.

But the fact he has been given his marching orders now suggests the prime minister is feeling strong.

As has been the case for the past year, it is Israel’s longest-serving leader, its most Machiavellian and successful political operator, who is calling the shots.