After a night of unrest, with street fighting, fires, and clashes between protesters and police in its major cities, Israel is preparing to enter a new era following the firing of Defense Minister Yoav Galad by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As Israel’s well-known and beloved General Galad, was dismissed, on the one hand, the opposition is attempting to instrumentalize this influence to disrupt the fragile majority of Netanyahu’s right-wing government, and on the other, his replacement, Israel Katz, will attempt to push a harder line of war from Israel.
Galland himself believes that his ouster was the result of disagreement with Netanyahu over three issues: the issue of military service for ultra-Orthodox (on which Galland insisted that the policy of non-recruitment be changed), the abandonment of hostages in Gaza, and the need for an official investigation into the October 7 Hamas attack. “There is and will be no forgiveness for the abandonment of hostages,” he said. “This will be a ‘sign of Cain’ that Israeli society will bear, as well as those who are led down this wrong path.”
עדכון חשוב ממני אליכם >> pic.twitter.com/YlpNkaljRb
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) November 5, 2024
In reality, however, the project was predestined. With Netanyahu, there were two foreigners in the same government. The differences they had were enormous and their relations were terrible. In Netanyahu’s circle, Galland was a “source” for the Americans, giving them information about the war and attempting to “pass” this more conciliatory line promoted by Washington, up to and including a ceasefire with Hamas.
Of course, Netanyahu was asking for less than an excuse. It was Galland who had criticized and opposed, last year, the Netanyahu government’s proposed judicial reforms. And when Netanyahu then attempted to oust him, protests and riots broke out in every corner of Israel.
Since then, the rift between the two was huge and it was probably expected that Netanyahu would expel him. As he did yesterday: he summoned him to his office and handed him a letter, on which was written only one sentence: “You are dismissed from the position of defense minister, effective immediately.” Even the manner of his dismissal shows that it was something personal for Netanyahu, who in recent months has been in open conflict with Galad.
A typical example is that last August Gallant called Netanyahu’s goal of “total victory” in Gaza “nonsense”, prompting the issuance of a statement in which the Israeli prime minister accused the defense minister of adopting “anti-Israeli rhetoric”!
Galland vehemently opposed Netanyahu’s decision to control the humanitarian corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border and called it a “moral disgrace” to prioritize victory over Hamas over a ceasefire and hostage exchange agreement. “If we want to get the hostages back alive, we have no more time,” he had told the cabinet.
To many, the straw that broke the camel’s back may have been the fact that Netanyahu, yesterday, was forced to withdraw a bill that would have allowed ultra-Orthodox Jews to receive government subsidies for daycare, even if the children’s father is not serving in the IDF, as all other Israelis must do. Netanyahu relies on the ultra-Orthodox parties to govern, and they have threatened to overthrow his coalition if they are forced to serve en masse in the army.
Galland had been outspoken against the idea of exempting ultra-Orthodox Israelis from military service, saying that “the security system under my leadership will not subject it to legislation.”
Tears
Just minutes after the announcement of Galland’s disqualification, opposition leaders called on people to take to the streets. As they did. In Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem, protests and riots broke out. These went as far as outside Netanyahu’s house in Jerusalem, with chants of ‘shame’ and ‘treason’; in Tel Aviv, protesters blocked a main highway, while families of hostages held in Gaza chanted ‘Bibi is a traitor’, using the prime minister’s nickname. This is because they believe Netanyahu is clearing the political landscape around him to torpedo proposed ceasefire agreements and prolong the war until he gets the victory he seeks. Doing so, however, does not help the return of the hostages.
LOL WTF IS GOING ON IN TEL AVIV?!
— The Saviour (@stairwayto3dom) November 5, 2024
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/F7R0WulsB7
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called it an “act of madness”. “Netanyahu is selling out Israel’s security and IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers for his despicable political survival,” Lapid wrote on X on Tuesday.
Regardless of the protests, however, Israel Katz has already taken over the Defense Ministry portfolio, leaving the Foreign Ministry in which he served until now to Minister without Portfolio Gideon Saar.
