About that firing of the deputy defense minister…

According to reports on Friday, the cabinet voted to approve the current ground operation already on Tuesday. It gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon the task of choosing the timing of the operation.

On the political side, this suggests that Netanyahu’s firing of former deputy defense minister Danny Danon came after the decision on the ground invasion — the sort of operation Danon had publicly demanded from the government in repeated criticism that led to his firing. That is, Netanyahu fired the loudest critic of his policy of restraint right before partially abandoning that policy in favor of escalation.

Netanyahu and Danon have sparred over control of Likud party institutions over the past year. Netanyahu appears to have avenged at least part of that challenge to his authority.