By Robert Inlakesh

Immediately following the decision, statements were issued by a number of Israeli opposition party leaders, condemning the move.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has dismissed Yoav Gallant from his position as minister of defense and replaced him with his hawkish Likud Party ally Israel Katz, while also appointing Gideon Sa’ar as Foreign Minister. The move quickly triggered street protests from outraged Israelis concerned about the move’s security effect during the war.

Back in July, the Israeli premier took the decision to dissolve the emergency War Cabinet that had overseen military affairs on all fronts and was formed as a “unity war government” between the ruling Likud Party-led coalition and the Israeli opposition. 

This decision was made by Benjamin Netanyahu after the resignations of senior War Cabinet members from the opposition such as Gadi Eisenkot and Benny Gantz, in addition to Gideon Sa’ar.

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Interestingly, one of the key items of disagreement between members of Israel’s former War Cabinet was the handling of the escalation along the southern Lebanese border. Many had speculated at the time that Benny Gantz and other senior officials had disagreed with the stances taken by the Israeli Prime Minister. 

The latest dismissal of Israel’s defense minister comes as an apparent response to a breakdown of trust between Yoav Gallant and the Israeli PM Netanyahu, which came as a result of an ongoing series of disagreements on how to manage the now regional war that has been opened since Israel’s assault on Lebanon in September. 

In Gallant’s departure speech this Tuesday night, he asserted that there were three key reasons behind Netanyahu’s choice to dismiss him from his post: His insistence on drafting the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish population into the army upon the age of conscription, his commitment to concluding a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, and finally his advocacy for establishing an official commission to investigate the Israeli failure on October 7, 2023.

‘Act of Madness’

Immediately following the decision, statements were issued by a number of Israeli opposition party leaders, condemning the move, the first of which was a post of X (formerly Twitter) by Blue and White Party leader, Benny Gantz, who wrote “politics at the expense of national security.”

“Dismissing Gallant in the middle of a war is an act of madness. Netanyahu is trading Israel’s security and the safety of IDF soldiers for disgraceful political survival. The far-right government prioritizes opportunists over true servants. I urge the people of Yesh Atid and all Zionist patriots to take to the streets tonight in protest,” said Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid.

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The Israeli Labour Party leader, Yair Golan, also added to the calls for protests:

“I call on all heads of universities and all heads of colleges – suspend studies. I call on all the heads of the economy, stop work. I call on all the heads of the security system, raise a cry, even now while you are in uniform. I call on all citizens of Israel, take to the streets. Netanyahu is destroying Israel and only we can save it.”

The Israeli public quickly answered these calls, locking down streets in central Tel Aviv, clashing with police in Haifa and even breaking through a barricade in an attempt to reach Netanyahu’s house in Jerusalem.

What this display of solidarity with Yoav Gallant shows, from the Israeli political and domestic anti-Netanyahu opposition, is that there are no real disagreements when it comes to the handling of the war from any large contingent within Israeli society. The only places where the Israeli opposition and its supporters fundamentally differ from the ruling coalition – on the question of the war – is their insistence on returning their captives and on the personality of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Gallant, after all, is still an active Knesset Member for Netanyahu’s Likud Party. On top of this, he is infamous for labeling the people of Gaza “human animals”, asserting at the beginning of the war that “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed”. 

This man, who is awaiting an arrest warrant from the International Court of Justice (ICC) for war crimes, is the individual that the Israeli opposition has gone to bat for.

‘Not a Drop of Water’

Yet, the dismissal may have broader implications than triggering Israeli civil unrest. Israel Katz who has now replaced Gallant as defense minister, is also a Likud Party member, but is known to be loyal to Netanyahu and is even more hawkish than his predecessor. 

On October 13 he stated that “all the civilian population in Gaza is ordered to leave immediately. We will win. They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world.”

Katz also stated the following in October of 2023:

“Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home. Humanitarianism for humanitarianism. And no one will preach morality to us.”

Both of the above-mentioned statements from Israel Katz were mentioned in South Africa’s submission to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of committing genocide.

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While Gideon Sa’ar of the New Hope Party was previously believed to be the favorite for taking Yoav Gallant’s position, he was instead handed the Foreign Ministry as a token in order to end his feud with Benjamin Netanyahu. 

What the Israeli PM is signaling by placing an extreme right-wing ally as defense minister, is that he seeks to surround himself with yes men.

Gallant was widely seen as representing some semblance of balance in the decision-making room, most certainly a man who the US sought to keep in his seat as it made the Israeli government’s actions more predictable. Therefore, it appears likely that Netanyahu timed his dismal to occur on the US election day when they understand that Washington’s attention is diverted.

What this may signal, is the beginning of an even more violent phase of the conflict, one in which Benjamin Netanyahu may be pondering the possibility of expanding the intensity of the war in Lebanon, implementing an annexation plan in northern Gaza and even striking Iran again. It is also clear that this move came as a means of saving himself politically.

(The Palestine Chronicle)