Gallant, after being fired, warns Israel is abandoning captives, risks ‘mark of Cain’
Defense minister says Netanyahu axed him because he opposed Haredi draft exemptions, supported a hostage deal and called for a state commission of inquiry into October 7 attack
Yoav Gallant, speaking after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly fired him from the role of defense minister, warned that Israel would forever bear “the mark of Cain” if it abandons the hostages held in Gaza, and saluted the IDF, hostages and fallen soldiers in a forceful denunciation of the government from which he was dismissed.
Netanyahu fired the defense chief Tuesday evening, citing a breakdown of trust between the two, which the prime minister claimed helped Israel’s enemies. The move drew fierce condemnation from the political opposition and civil society groups, and brought thousands to the streets in protest.
Gallant said his dismissal stemmed from disagreements on three issues: ultra-Orthodox military conscription, a hostage deal with Hamas, and a state commission of inquiry into the government’s failures related to the October 7 attack that sparked the ongoing Gaza war.
His remarks were delivered three hours after Netanyahu fired him and as opposition politicians pilloried the move, accusing the prime minister of playing politics at the expense of national security.
Visibly emotional as he spoke from the Defense Ministry headquarters, Gallant said his priorities “have remained constant and clear throughout nearly fifty years of public service, [and] are as follows: The State of Israel; the IDF and the security establishment, and only afterward, everything else, including my personal future.”
Choking up, Gallant said that Israel’s security has been his life’s mission, and lauded “a series of impressive achievements, unprecedented in the history of the State of Israel,” which he attributed to “the IDF, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, and the entire security system.”
I salute Israel’s fallen troops and their families, our wounded veterans, the hostages and their families, all of the IDF’s troops and security forces.
I trust you and salute you. pic.twitter.com/7BuM2v8fyT
— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) November 5, 2024
The Likud party lawmaker, who has repeatedly clashed with Netanyahu over the handling of the war, already had a stormy relationship with the prime minister before Hamas’s attack last year.
In 2023, Gallant spoke out against the Netanyahu government’s proposed overhaul of the judicial system, warning that the national rift over the issue had come to constitute a tangible security threat, prompting the prime minister to fire him — only to backtrack two weeks later amid massive public outcry.
In his speech on Tuesday, Gallant called the issue of exempting Haredi men from military service “no longer just a social matter; it is the most critical matter for our existence.”
The defense minister noted that since Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel last October, hundreds of soldiers have been killed, and thousands have been wounded.
“The coming years will present us with complex challenges; wars are not over, and the sound of battle has not ceased. We must face these future challenges head-on and prepare,” he said.
“Under these circumstances, there is no choice — everyone must serve in the IDF and participate in the mission to defend the State of Israel.”
Gallant denounced what he called the “discriminatory, corrupt law” pushed by the coalition’s United Torah Judaism and Shas parties to preserve the exemption of ultra-Orthodox men from mandatory military service.
The defense minister has been a vocal opponent of the bill, which was proposed after the High Court ruled there was no longer any valid legal framework for the existing de-facto exemption, and Netanyahu’s decision to fire Gallant on Tuesday was widely seen as linked to coalition politics surrounding the issue.
Gallant also attributed his dismissal to Netanyahu’s position on a deal with Hamas, which together with other terror groups continues to hold 101 hostages, living and dead, in the Gaza Strip — vowing to release them only if Israel ends the ongoing war and withdraws its troops from the enclave.
Israel has a “moral obligation and responsibility to bring our kidnapped sons and daughters back home as quickly as possible, with as many alive as possible, to their families,” he said, saying that to do so is “achievable, but involves painful compromises that Israel can bear, and the IDF can deal with.”
Netanyahu has refused to sign off on a full withdrawal from Gaza in exchange for a hostage release, insisting, among other things, on maintaining a presence along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border — a demand that infuriated Gallant when it was declared, and which the defense minister publicly called on the government to reverse.
“We cannot bring back those hostages who have died,” Gallant said Tuesday.
“There is and will not be any atonement for abandoning the captives. It will be a mark of Cain on the forehead of Israeli society and those leading this mistaken path.”
Gallant also addressed his support for a state commission of inquiry into the government’s failures related to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
“When it comes to the national level — political, security and military — there is a name for uncovering the truth and learning from it: a state commission of inquiry,” he said.
Netanyahu has refused to allow a state commission of inquiry into October 7, despite calls from across the political spectrum that he do so.
The prime minister is thought to prefer a lower-level inquiry, with more limited investigative powers. Critics say he seeks to avoid being blamed for failures that enabled Hamas to attack.
In July, Gallant publicly called for a state commission of inquiry, demanding it “examine all of us: the decision-makers and professionals, the government, the army and security services, this government — and the governments over the last decade that led to the events of October 7.”
The defense minister repeated his call on Tuesday: “I have said, and I repeat, I am responsible for the security establishment over the past two years — for the successes and the failures. Only sunlight and a truthful investigation will allow us to learn and build our strength to face future challenges,” he said.
Concluding his speech, Gallant emphasized that “difficult challenges still await us, against Iran and its proxies in the region.” Israelis are “destined to live for many more years by the sword, but it is better that the sword remains in our hands than is placed at our throats,” he said.
“In this regard, I say: The IDF and other security organizations are the shield that grants life to the State of Israel. I have not allowed and will not allow any harm to come to the IDF or the other security organizations, the commanders, and the soldiers,” he said.
In final comments that did not mention Netanyahu by name, Gallant warned of “a moral darkness” that has descended on the country, and urged elected officials to adopt the same path that he said the security establishment has always followed.
Finally, the defense minister said he wished “to salute the fallen and their families, the wounded and the disabled, the captives and their families, and the IDF fighters wherever they may be. I trust you and salute you,” and saluted from the podium for several seconds, then left without taking questions.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid responded to Gallant’s speech, writing on X that the defense minister’s concluding gesture would be recorded by the public as an iconic act of defiance.
“Gallant’s salute at the end of his speech will be engraved in the memory of every Israeli,” said Lapid.
“This is how an officer and fighter behaves who was fired only because he refused to prefer Netanyahu’s wretched politics over the good of the fighters and the lives of the hostages,” he added.
National Unity Leader Benny Gantz, who sat on the now-defunct war cabinet with Gallant in the first months after the Hamas attack, called on the outgoing defense minister not to resign from the Knesset altogether, but rather “to stay and make his important voice heard on the critical issues at hand.
“Yoav — your voice is important, your experience is important, keep standing guard,” Gantz wrote on X.
