Gallant challenges Likud to choose between path of Begin and Ben Gvir as party meets to expel him

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant appears today at the Likud party tribunal to respond to a petition to expel him, challenging the party to choose its future.

“Make no mistake – the discussion today is not about the future of Yoav Gallant. Today’s discussion is about whether we are continuing the path of Begin or the path of Ben Gvir,” he says, speaking to Kan News, referring to the founder of the Likud party, former prime minister Menachem Begin, and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who belongs to the Otzma Yehudit party.

Under Begin, Likud was founded as a hawkish but staunchly liberal party.

“I continue to hold the same positions and principles I have held all my life, and especially as a wartime defense minister,” Gallant continues. “I am a member of Likud, and I came to fight for Likud.”

The petition to expel Gallant was filed about a year ago by party activists associated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, led by Talia Einhorn, according to the Maariv daily. Her son, Yisrael Einhorn, is a former Netanyahu aide implicated in the so-called Qatargate scandal.

The petition claims that Gallant “acted against the Likud party and undermined the leadership of the prime minister” when he was defense minister.

Gallant resigned from the Knesset in January after Netanyahu fired him from his cabinet in November for the second and final time, citing a lack of mutual trust during a time of war.

The former defense minister argues that the reason for his dismissal was his insistence on the need to draft Haredi men into the IDF, the imperative to bring back the hostages from Gaza, and the need for a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught and ensuing war.