Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday and replaced him with Foreign Minister Israel Israel, amid a long-running public feud between Gallant and Netanyahu, even as Israel is engaged in a multi-front war against Iran and its terrorist proxies. He brought Katz.

In his video statement, Netanyahu said, “Unfortunately, in the first months of the war, there was trust and very productive work with Gallant, but in recent months the trust between me and the defense minister has eroded.”

Netanyahu stated that there were “significant gaps” between ministers’ views on how to conduct Israel’s simultaneous wars, and that these were “accompanied by statements and actions contrary to government and cabinet decisions.”

“I made many attempts to close these gaps, but they just kept getting bigger. “These things came to the public agenda in unacceptable ways, and what’s worse, the enemy also knew about it,” Netanyahu said.

“The security of the State of Israel has always been, and always will be, his life’s mission,” Gallant said in his own statement.

As defense secretary, Gallant had established close relationships with senior U.S. defense officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Gallant had become the Biden administration’s main conduit to the Netanyahu government in recent months. frayed ties Between Netanyahu and President Joe Biden.

Netanyahu has long had a tense relationship with Gallant and fired the defense minister in March 2023 after Gallant issued a public statement opposing the government’s planned judicial reform. Netanyahu later marched in support of the movement, following widespread protests that broke out following initial reports that Gallant had been fired.

Netanyahu approached Gallant was scheduled to be fired in September, but was postponed following a coordinated attack believed to have been carried out by Israel, in which thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members exploded, neutralizing large numbers of members of the Iran-backed terror group. .

owned by Gallant criticized He criticized Netanyahu for not having a clear “morning after” plan for Gaza and for not pursuing the hostage agreement more aggressively.

Moshe Emilio Lavi, brother-in-law of Omri Miran, who has been held hostage in Gaza since October 7, 2023, said that “the families of the hostages found an ally in Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who warned the government that Israel was endangering its security.” Before October 7” – a reference to Gallant’s opposition to the government’s judicial reform.

Gallant “gave a sober view of the hostage crisis but promised to prioritize their release. Today, as the war continues, Prime Minister Netanyahu fired him for political reasons. Despite his failures, MoD Gallant served as a moderating force in a government filled with reckless, extremist ministers and a Prime Minister who faced three criminal charges, was under investigation, and did not always put the nation’s interests before his own,” wrote Lavi.

Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist, is expected to cooperate with the prime minister’s war vision. As minister of foreign affairs, Katz became known for his posts created by artificial intelligence. images cynical Anti-Israel leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Although Katz has a large power base within Netanyahu’s Likud party, he has mostly used this as a tool to pressure the prime minister to promote him to more senior ministerial positions.

Gideon Sa’ar, who served as a minister without being a minister after joining the cabinet in September to support the war effort, will replace Katz as foreign minister. As the wars in Gaza and Lebanon move into less intense phases, Sa’ar’s elevation to a senior portfolio could enable him and his party to remain within the coalition ranks. Like Sa’ar, Ze’ev Elkin, a former Likud minister and one-time Netanyahu confidant, is also expected to serve in the cabinet.

Netanyahu said the move “contributes to the stability of the coalition and the government, which is always important, especially in times of war.”

The coalition now needs extra support to survive, due to major internal disagreements over a bill that would eliminate the maximum penalty for young Haredi men who do not join the IDF. Many Likud MPs and Sa’ar’s party announced they would vote against the bill.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir supported the firing, saying Gallant was still “captive of the idea that we cannot achieve total victory.”

Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz Published on X He said it was “politics at the expense of national security.”

Former Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman Published on X Stating that this was a “banana republic”, he said: “If it is possible to replace a defense minister in the middle of a war, it is also possible to replace a prime minister who cannot fulfill his duty and neglects national security.”

Multiple activist groups defending the hostage deal and calling for Netanyahu’s dismissal called on Israelis protest against In the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and beyond. Demonstrators blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv and clashed with police.