From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 5, 2022
Gantz to likely successor: You will be a second-class defense minister
Carrie Keller-Lynn is a former political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel
Defense Minister Benny Gantz warns his successor — likely Likud MK Yoav Gallant — that if he takes the job, he will end up being a second-class defense chief.
Gantz refers to coalition agreements that agree to strip away key Defense Ministry powers and hand them over to the responsibilities of Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich and Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir.
“I would like to say to my replacement — if you take the position as it is presented to you — your task will be to become the contractor for the dismantling of the security apparatus and the IDF,” Gantz says.
“You will be a second-class defense minister,” he says, adding that “the mark of Cain will be upon you.”
“On your shift, the use of force will be taken away from the [military’s] chief of staff and given to Ben Gvir. On your shift, the people’s army will disintegrate,” Gantz says at the outset of his National Unity party’s faction meeting.
“Smotrich will appoint a major general and brigadier-general in the army according to how he perceives the size of their kippa and the fervor of their faith,” he says.
