Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after months of clashes over domestic politics and Israel’s war efforts.
In a recorded statement Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said that “trust between me and the minister of defense has cracked.”
Israel Katz, currently the foreign minister, will become defense minister. Gideon Sa’ar will replace Katz as foreign minister, the prime minister’s office said Tuesday. Neither has extensive military experience, though Katz has served in the cabinet throughout the war.
The move came as voters in the United States, Israel’s most important ally, voted for their next president. Gallant is a close interlocutor for the US administration, and has been said to have daily conversations with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The reshuffle also comes as Israel awaits a potential retaliatory attack from Iran.
Gallant responded to the decision shortly after it was made public, posting on X that the “security of Israel has been and will always be my lifelong mission.”
Netanyahu said that he had “made many attempts” to bridge differences with Gallant, but that they “kept widening” and “came to the public’s knowledge in an unacceptable manner.” He continued: “Worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy – our enemies enjoyed it and greatly benefited from it.”
Minutes after Netanyahu made the announcement, opposition leaders called for Israelis to take to the streets in protest. Protestors outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem shouted “shame!” In Tel Aviv, families of hostages held in Gaza chanted “Bibi is a traitor,” using the prime minister’s nickname. When Netanyahu first sought to fire Gallant last year, over his opposition to proposed judicial reforms, it led to mass nationwide demonstrations.
Israel’s political class has long speculated that Netanyahu would fire Gallant and replace him with a political ally to shore up his domestic power. Netanyahu has struggled to maintain a hold over his fragile governing coalition, a muddle of competing interests, whose collapse could spell the end of his leadership.
Clashes over the war and domestic politics
The relationship between both men was rarely cordial and often caustic. There was little love lost between them – over the state of negotiations with Hamas, Israel’s military strategy and Netanyahu’s bid to bring in a sweeping overhaul of the judiciary in 2023.
Netanyahu and Gallant have often disagreed over the war in Gaza. In August, Gallant told a closed-door Knesset committee that Netanyahu’s goal of “absolute victory” in Gaza was “nonsense,” according to Israeli media. Netanyahu then took the extraordinary step of releasing a press statement accusing Gallant of adopting an “anti-Israel narrative.”
Gallant was also highly critical of Netanyahu’s emphasis on controlling the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor. He said that prioritizing its control over a ceasefire and hostage deal was a “moral disgrace.” In the cabinet, he voted against continued occupation there. “If we want the hostages alive, we don’t have time,” he said.
But it may be domestic politics that ultimately played the biggest role.
Netanyahu on Tuesday was forced to withdraw draft legislation that would have allowed ultra-Orthodox Israelis to get government subsidies for daycare even if the father of the children does not serve in the Israel Defense Forces, as all other Jewish Israelis must do. Netanyahu relies on ultra-Orthodox parties to govern, and they have threatened to upend his coalition if they are forced to serve in the military en masse.
Gallant had been outspoken against the idea that ultra-Orthodox Israelis be exempt from service, saying that “the security system under my leadership will not submit it to legislation.”
Sa’ar, whom Netanyahu has tapped for foreign minister, is thought to be an influential interlocutor to the ultra-Orthodox parties. Netanyahu, in his statement, said that Sa’ar’s appointment “will enhance the stability of the coalition and the stability of the government, and these are very important at any time, but especially at wartime.”
Also on Tuesday, Israeli police announced that a criminal investigation had been opened “concerning events at the outset of the war,” without offering further details.
Gallant has repeatedly called for an official inquiry into Hamas’ October 7 attack. It is the second investigation this week that threatens to ensnare Netanyahu. On Sunday, a court revealed that police had arrested a top Netanyahu aide for allegedly leaking classified and faked intelligence to foreign media.
Netanyahu had faced pressure from far-right members of his cabinet to dismiss him, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir saying in September that he had been demanding Gallant’s ouster for months “and the time has come to do so immediately.”
His relationship with Gallant deteriorated when the prime minister threatened to fire him in March 2023, after he criticized the government’s judicial overhaul legislation. The bill, which provoked widespread popular protests in Israel, would have granted the ruling coalition more sway in selecting judges.
Gallant was the first minister to oppose it, saying: “The deepening split is seeping into the military and security agencies – this is a clear, immediate and real danger to Israel’s security. I will not facilitate this.”
Netanyahu said he would fire the defense minister, but reversed his position following pressure. The rancor between the two men has persisted and grown since the Hamas attack last October.
This is a developing story and will be updated.