Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, an Israeli official confirmed to The Hill.
Netanyahu and Gallant have clashed publicly over the course of the more than yearlong war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and escalating conflict on multiple fronts against Iranian-backed proxies in the Middle East.
Netanyahu, who announced his decision late Tuesday local time, said he was firing Gallant due to trust issues and “gaps” between them in the management of the war.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defense minister,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defense minister.”
Gallant issued his own statement in which he vowed that the “security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain my life’s mission.”
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, has reportedly been nominated by Netanyahu as Gallant’s replacement.
Netanyahu until now had held off on firing Gallant, a popular official who helped lead widespread street protests against the prime minister in March 2023 against judicial reforms. Gallant was fired at the time and rehired two weeks later.
But the relationship between the two continued to sour, with Gallant criticizing Netanyahu for failing to put forward a vision for the Gaza Strip after Israel defeated Hamas, and failing to reach a cease-fire deal to release hostages held by Hamas. They also clashed over the role of ultra-Orthodox men in the Israeli army — a key segment of Netanyahu’s ruling political bloc.
In a speech delivered Tuesday night, Gallant pointed to some of these issues as the reason for Netanyahu firing him.
“My removal from office is the result of disagreement on three issues,” he said, bringing up his belief that ultra-Orthodox Jewish men must serve in the army; the “moral obligation and responsibility to return the hostages,” and saying a third issue was a push to investigate the failures in Israel’s security, intelligence and political establishment that resulted in the country being caught so off-guard on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched its attack.
“I have said this in the past and I repeat — I have been responsible for Israel’s defense establishment over the past two years — for it its successes and failures. Only shedding light on the truth and conducting an investigation, will enable us to draw conclusions and build our capabilities to contend with the challenges ahead of us,” he said.
Netanyahu has shown a remarkable ability to survive politically in the face of numerous scandals, from delaying an investigation over the failures of Oct. 7 until after the war, holding tight a fragile coalition of controversial and far-right lawmakers, and pushing to delay his personal testimony in a corruption trial that predates the war.
“During my years in the IDF, In training and in operations, on the ground, above and in the water, I learned an important lesson — in dark environments, we must navigate in accordance with our [moral] compass,” Gallant said.
“And in our case, when the fog of war is heavy, and a moral darkness befalls us, I hold onto this Compass. It is my hope that in addition to the IDF, which operates in accordance with the values of this compass, so will too, our elected leaders.”
“This announcement is not entirely surprising. There were several signs it was coming,” said Brad Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“Such leadership changes in the midst of war are not ideal, but national leaders sometimes conclude such changes are necessary. Israel has some momentous decisions ahead.”
Gallant was viewed by Israelis as a steady hand and enjoyed more favorable ratings than Netanyahu, according to polls.
“Gallant has been a symbol of the war effort and a symbol of decency, modesty and iron will during the war,” Seth Frantzman, a Middle East security analyst based in Israel, wrote on the social platform X.
“He always wore black after October 7, an embodiment of the empathy and tragedy of October 7 and mourning the losses. He was willing to meet with and face the victims in the communities,” he continued, referencing criticisms against Netanyahu for delaying meeting victims of the attacks and families of hostages.
Gallant also spoke frequently with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, even as tensions reached boiling points between Netanyahu and President Biden.
Netanyahu’s decision to switch up Israel’s defense minister on the day of the U.S. election also amplifies questions about the U.S.-Israel relationship during Biden’s lame-duck administration, as well as the next one; Netanyahu is widely seen as preferring a return of former President Trump rather than a Vice President Harris victory.
Gallant’s firing occurred shortly after Israel carried out an attack against Iran that dismantled key areas of its air defense and struck military sites. Biden urged Netanyahu against more provocative attacks on Iranian nuclear sites or oil facilities.
Iran’s supreme leader has still vowed to further retaliate against Israel, part of a back-and-forth since April that has drawn in the U.S. to help defend Israel against Iranian missiles.
Israel has recently revived military operations in the northern Gaza Strip aimed at rooting out the disparate Hamas fighters looking to regroup. The U.S., the United Nations and aid groups have decried the siege as worsening an already unbearable humanitarian crisis.
Gallant’s ouster also comes amid intense U.S. efforts to secure a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, in which Netanyahu is reportedly making security demands that are unacceptable to Lebanese leaders.
Gallant participated in a meeting last week in Jerusalem with Biden’s top envoys working on the Lebanon cease-fire deal, Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein.
—Updated at 5:38 p.m.
