Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday fired his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, after differences over the conduct of the war in Gaza, and replaced him with the current head of diplomacy Israel Katz. This surprise announcement comes while awaiting the result of the presidential election in the United States, Israel’s main ally. “In the midst of war, trust is more than ever required between the Prime Minister and his Minister of Defense” but “in recent months, this trust has been eroded,” said Benjamin Netanyahu in a letter addressed to Yoav Gallant, then that Israel is fighting on two fronts, against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Benjamin Netanyahu added that he “chose to appoint Minister Israel Katz” to replace Yoav Gallant, a retired general who became one of the main figures in the government. He had established himself in Israel as a leading figure in the war that Israel has been waging since September against Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. But Yoav Gallant also pleaded for a truce with Hamas in Gaza with a view to obtaining the release of the hostages kidnapped during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 against Israel, while the objective hammered out by Benjamin Netanyahu is an annihilation of the terrorist movement. Since a single truce in November 2023, all diplomatic efforts towards a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory of Gaza have proven unsuccessful.
“Mission of my life”
“The security of Israel has been and will remain the mission of my life,” replied Yoav Gallant on X. Since October 7, Israel has been at war against the terrorist movement in Gaza and since September also against Hezbollah in Lebanon. It also responded to missile attacks against its territory carried out by Iran, which supports these two Islamist movements. Yoav Gallant had reiterated in recent weeks his objective of pushing back Hezbollah fighters from Israel’s northern border, in order to secure the area to allow displaced people to return home.
Around 60,000 people have been displaced within the country due to almost daily cross-border firefights since Hezbollah opened a front against Israel on October 8, 2023 in support of Hamas, before the situation degenerated into open war. “Military action” is “the only way to guarantee the return of communities in northern Israel to their homes,” Mr. Gallant said on September 16 to American envoy Amos Hochstein, visiting Israel.
According to Calev Ben-Dor, a former analyst at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Gallant had established himself as a “responsible” figure, “perceived as focusing on victory and the national interest”, “rather than on low-level politics.” A profile making him more “unifying” than Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Michaël Horowitz, geopolitics expert for the security consulting firm Le Beck, based in the Middle East. Even though he joined the same party, Likud, as the Prime Minister in 2019, Yoav Gallant entered politics in a center-right party (Kulanou), and the two men have often disagreed. Yoav Gallant commanded Operation “Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009, which killed 1,440 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
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