From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Gallant resigns from Knesset, denounces imminent bill to exempt Haredim from IDF
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Former defense minister Yoav Gallant resigns from the Knesset while remaining a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
In an announcement carried live on Israeli television, the senior Likud lawmaker recalls his decades of military and political service and takes credit for degrading Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s military capabilities while stating that he takes responsibility, as the former defense minister, for the lead up to the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault and the current war.
Gallant asserts that he still believes in the path and values of his party while criticizing some of its recent policies. He calls the government’s judicial overhaul a “clear and immediate danger” and argues that there needs to be full and equal recruitment of all Israelis with the enlistment of the ultra-Orthodox a “military necessity.”
He links his dismissal as defense minister this November to his stance on the enlistment issue and says that his replacement, Israel Katz, and Netanyahu are working to exempt the ultra-Orthodox from the IDF, something to which he cannot be a partner.
“As on the battlefield, so too in public service, there are moments when you have to stop to assess the situation and choose the course of action,” he states — noting that his “journey is not yet complete.”
Netanyahu and Gallant have frequently clashed since the government’s accession at the end of 2022, with the prime minister initially firing him in March 2023 only to reverse the move amid intense public objection.
Gallant was absent from the Knesset on Tuesday evening during a critical budget vote which saw Netanyahu leave his hospital bed post-surgery to take part.
The Times of Israel Community.