Surprisingly, it was he – already – and not the Minister of Defense, who had the first to announce to Israelis and the world the death of Israel’s public enemy number one and leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, on October 18 in Gaza. Until then head of diplomacy, Israel Katz was appointed by Benjamin Netanyahu to replace, in the midst of the war in Gaza and Lebanon, his defense counterpart, Yoav Gallant, dismissed a few seconds earlier, Tuesday, November 5 in the evening.
There was no shortage of areas of disagreement between the Prime Minister and Yoav Gallant, this respected and experienced former general who led the offensive in Gaza with an iron fist: on the priorities of the war, the latter declaring at the end of October that Israel should do “painful concessions” to free the hostages; on the question of military control or post-war governance of Gaza, to which he was opposed; or even on the conscription of haredimwhich he considered necessary for “share the burden” military and “participate in the mission of defending the State”.
Recognizing their irreconcilable positions and aware that Yoav Gallant had become politically cumbersome, Benjamin Netanyahu therefore made sure to replace him with a faithful among the faithful, a “tough” camped very to the right of the political spectrum.
An ideologically marked shift to transport
Defense is almost one of the only government positions that Israel Katz has never held until now. And for good reason, observers have already noted, he does not come from the army and has almost no military experience. His visits to other ministries – transport, energy, agriculture, intelligence, finance – on the other hand had a strong ideological tone, for the benefit of the extreme right and religious parties: in transport for ten years, recalls the liberal daily Haaretzhe thus ordered in 2009 that Arabic and English be written in direct transliteration of Hebrew on road signs. Two years later, he decided to subsidize bus tickets in the West Bank settlements, a measure in favor of the settlers, and campaigned for the maintenance of segregated buses between men and women, against the advice of his ministry.
A Likud MP since 1998, Israel Katz, 69, spent ten months at the head of Israeli diplomacy, during which he made a name for himself through his provocative statements and his uninhibited use of social networks, based on photo montages. Latest mating to date: on September 14, he described himself as“anti-Semitic” his European counterpart Josep Borrell who said he “scandalized” after the death of UN employees in an Israeli strike in Gaza. Five days after the massacres of October 7, 2023, then Minister of Energy, this native of Ashkelon – near Gaza – wrote on the social network “The entire civilian population of Gaza was ordered to leave immediately. We will win. They will not receive a drop of water, nor a single battery until they leave the earth.” Comments quoted before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague as part of the trial for “genocide” brought by South Africa against Israel. Historically hostile to the 2005 Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, Israel Katz is also known to have long been opposed to a Palestinian state.
A “bulldozer” without much experience
If Netanyahu called him « bulldozer » Tuesday evening during his appointment, the new minister of defense “lack of experience in the relevant areas. He is a lowly man whose sole purpose is to serve Netanyahu like an obedient puppet.”says Amos Harel, the military correspondent of Gripz. The reaction of the military corps to his appointment remains at this time the great unknown, while the fed up of the reservists is increasingly being heard after more than a year of war in Gaza and while the operations in Lebanon do not seem to find their end point.
But with Israel Katz, the prime minister ensures control. “He is there to continue the strategy of Netanyahu, who got rid of Gallant because the latter understood that there was no exit strategy and way for Israel to transform its tactical gains into strategic victory, in order to truly transform the security and political landscape in Gazaexplains Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, researcher at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington. Netanyahu tried to continue this war until return of Donald Trump thanks to this election. It is therefore very unlikely that a change in Israeli military policy will occur in Gaza or Lebanon. Katz represents the status quo in Netanyahu’s government. »
