Katz formally replaces Gallant as defense minister, holds assessment with security chiefs
Newly appointed minister speaks with US counterpart Austin; Gallant, fired by Netanyahu, says he’s leaving role with ‘great pain’ over losses, failure to secure return of hostages
Israel Katz formally became defense minister on Friday in a modest handover ceremony, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Yoav Gallant on Tuesday night.
The handover ceremony at the Defense Ministry was attended by the IDF’s General Staff Forum and the ministry’s staff.
Katz, in a speech, said that he was looking forward to working with the defense establishment and that he would be “the defender of the IDF.” He promised to “harness all my abilities to allow the IDF to deal with the things it needs to deal with, with full force.”
“I am sure that we will achieve victory in this campaign whose goals are to curb Iranian aggression and negate its capabilities, to continue the dismantling of Hamas as a governing and military force, and to defeat Hezbollah,” he said.
Addressing Gallant, Katz said, “We were friends and we will remain friends because we believe in the same things that will ensure the security and future of the State of Israel, the Jewish State. I promise you that the entire State of Israel will emerge from the campaign and from the pain to much higher places.”
Gallant, in his parting speech, said he was leaving the role “with great pain over the loss [of lives], and for what has not yet been completed, the return of the hostages.”
“But also with a sense of achievement and significance, for what has been done here, under my responsibility in the last two years, establishing a new and better strategic reality for the State of Israel,” he said.
“This is not a complete farewell. I will continue, as I have done all my life, to work for the security of the State of Israel and for the people of Israel,” he added.
Following the handover ceremony, Katz held a first assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and other military and defense officials, his office said.
He also spoke with his American counterpart, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
A readout from Katz’s office said the new defense minister thanked Austin for “the US’s support of Israel from the first day of the war, for the commitment to return all the hostages, and to preserve the strategic ties between the countries in the face of threats from Iran and its proxies.”
The minister also thanked Austin for “condemning the difficult events in Amsterdam and for his offer to help if necessary,” referring to the mass violence on Thursday against Israeli soccer fans, following a game in the European city.
Katz also invited Austin to visit Israel, the ministry added.
Netanyahu fired Gallant Tuesday evening, citing a lack of mutual trust during a time of war.
The prime minister said that the two disagreed on the management of the war, and that Gallant had made statements and taken actions that contradicted cabinet decisions. He also accused Gallant of indirectly aiding Israel’s enemies.
The bombshell announcement was met with a mixture of outrage from members of the opposition and elation from coalition members, many of whom have been openly critical of Gallant’s position on a variety of matters pertaining to the war.
It also sparked several days of protests, recalling the first time Netanyahu fired Gallant, in March 2023, over his opposition to the government’s proposed judicial overhaul. Then, amid massive outcry, the prime minister backtracked, and reversed the firing. This time, the demonstrations were far smaller in scale.
In a speech following his firing, Gallant said he was dismissed due to disagreements with Netanyahu about conscription of the ultra-Orthodox, hostage negotiations with the Hamas terror group, and a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack.
On Thursday, he reportedly told the families of Israelis still held captive in Gaza that there was nothing left to accomplish militarily in the enclave, and that Netanyahu had declined in July to make a deal for the hostages’ release without any serious security or diplomatic justification.
The firing came as Israel braces for an expected attack by Iran after Israel’s October 26 airstrikes, which Jerusalem said took out the Islamic Republic’s air defenses and missile production capabilities.
Israel’s strikes were in retaliation to Iran’s October 1 barrage of 200 ballistic missiles, which forced most of the country to take shelter and killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank.
