Netanyahu fires Gallant, saying disagreements and lack of mutual trust helped the enemy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday evening, citing a lack of mutual trust during a time of war.

Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, while Minister without Portfolio Gideon Sa’ar will replace Katz in the Foreign Ministry.

In a terse letter that the Prime Minister’s Office said was handed to Gallant during an 8 p.m. meeting, Netanyahu informed him that his tenure would end “48 hours from the receipt of this letter.”

“I would like to thank you for your service as defense minister,” the letter concluded.

Following the brief interaction, Netanyahu left the room and recorded a video in which he announced the firing of his longtime Likud party rival, Channel 12 news reported.

“Unfortunately, although in the first months of the war there was trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defense minister,” said Netanyahu in the video statement.

He said that the two disagreed on the management of the war, and that Gallant had made statements and taken actions that contradicted cabinet decisions.

The premier also accused Gallant of indirectly aiding Israel’s enemies.

“I made many attempts to bridge these gaps, but they kept getting wider,” he said. “They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy — our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it.”

The “crisis of faith” with the defense minister “does not enable the proper continuation of the [military] campaign,” Netanyahu continued.

He said that most members of the government and cabinet were in agreement with him “that this cannot continue. In light of this, I decided today to end the tenure of the defense minister.”

Tuesday’s announcement is the second time that Netanyahu has fired Gallant from the post.

In March 2023, Netanyahu fired Gallant a day after the defense minister called for pausing the legislation process of the government’s contentious judicial overhaul plans, which he said caused divisions that posed a threat to national security.

He was reinstated less than a month later, however, and was at the helm of the Defense Ministry when Hamas committed its deadly terror assault in southern Israel on October 7 last year. He remained in his post throughout the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip, the fighting on the northern border and the ground operation in southern Lebanon.

Following his dismissal on Tuesday, Gallant issued a one-line statement of his own, writing on X that “the security of the State of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life’s mission.”

The statement was identical to the one he published on the night of his first firing, 18 months ago.

He elaborated at a press conference later on Tuesday night, where he appeared visibly emotional as he explained that the reason for his dismissal was threefold: the need to draft Haredi men to the IDF, the imperative to bring back the hostages from Gaza, and the need for a state commission of inquiry in the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught and ensuing war.

The issue of the Haredi draft, he said, “isn’t only a social one, but is a topic central to our existence — the security of Israel and the nation that sits in Zion.”

Israel will be facing complex challenges in the coming years, he said. “In these circumstances, there is no choice. Everyone must serve in the IDF and participate in the mission of defending Israel.”

The “discriminatory, corrupt law” on Haredi enlistment must not be allowed to pass, he warned, referring to legislation being pushed by Haredi parties United Torah Judaism and Shas that would preserve the exemption of ultra-Orthodox males from military service after the High Court ruled earlier this year that there was no longer any legal framework allowing the state to refrain from drafting them.

Gallant has opposed the legislation, putting him at odds with the Haredi parties, both of which have demanded it be pushed through as a matter of priority and have said they are prepared to topple the coalition should it not pass into law.

The second issue, Gallant said, was the matter of a hostage deal.

He hinted strongly that Israel should be prioritizing a deal to get the 101 remaining hostages out of Gaza, even if doing so would mean Hamas remains in the Strip.

“Whoever dies among the hostages can never be returned. There isn’t and will never be atonement for abandoning the hostages,” he said. “It will become a mark of Cain on the forehead of Israeli society, and on those who are leading this mistaken path.”

Finally, he called for a government investigation into the October 7 Hamas terror assault, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were seized as hostages as terrorists rampaged through southern Israel communities.

Citing the need to get at the truth and extract military, political and security lessons, Gallant warned that this was the only way to prepare Israeli forces for future challenges.

Choking up, he said that Israel’s security has been his life’s mission.

He praised the war efforts over the last year, saying that Israel had “struck in Gaza and Lebanon” and fought back against terrorism in the West Bank.

“We eliminated terror leaders in the world and across the Middle East. We operated for the first time in a precise, lethal and swift strike in Iran,” he said. “Since October 7, I’ve focused on one mission — victory in the war.”

He then warned of “a moral darkness” that “surrounds us,” without mentioning Netanyahu.

The returned naval commando and general concluded his remarks with a salute to the war-fallen, the hostages and their families.

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.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi welcomed the firing of his fellow Likud member and asserted that he had “failed to rise to the heroic spirit of our brave warriors who demand victory” and that his departure would now clear the way for victory in Gaza.

He sought to tie Gallant’s dismissal to his recent calls for the ousting of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara who, like Gallant, has clashed with the government several times over laws and decisions she deems to be illegal.

“The last one remaining to hinder and fight the government is Ms. Miara,” Karhi wrote. “Send her home now.”

Meanwhile, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel called on Baharav-Miara to “intervene immediately and examine the legality” of Gallant’s ouster.

In a statement, the watchdog argued that his termination was “a narrow political move that places personal and political interests above the good of the state and the security of its citizens.”

The group linked Netanyahu’s decision to his government’s push to pass legislation intended to facilitate ultra-Orthodox Israelis’ “evasion” of military service, and argued that firing Gallant “at a time when the IDF is fighting on the various fronts constitutes a serious injury to the security system and the principles of proper administration, and indicates a serious leadership failure.”

Adding to the concerns of Netanyahu’s critics, the Walla news outlet cited sources close to the prime minister as saying that he was also planning on firing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.

While Netanyahu has the sole authority to replace Bar, the defense minister is responsible for firing or nominating an IDF chief of staff. Unlike Gallant, incoming defense minister Katz is widely seen as being willing to do Netanyahu’s bidding.

The Prime Minister’s Office denied that there was any truth to the report, however, insisting that it was “not true and intended to sow division.” It later released another statement saying Netanyahu spoke with Halevi, Bar and Mossad Director David Barnea, telling them he “looks forward to joint work along with the new defense minister.”

The earlier PMO statement also denied that the Haredi parties had any advance knowledge of Netanyahu’s plan to dismiss Gallant, and insisted that “they learned about it from the media.”

In a statement of his own, Katz, also a member of Netanyahu’s Likud, welcomed his new appointment as defense minister but made no mention of Gallant.

“I thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for the trust he placed in me in appointing me to the position of minister of defense,” Katz posted on X. “I accept this responsibility with a sense of mission and a deep commitment to the security of the State of Israel and its citizens.”

He vowed that they would “work together to advance the defense establishment to victory against our enemies and to achieve the goals of the war: the return of all the hostages as the most important mission, the destruction of Hamas in Gaza, the defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the curbing of Iranian aggression and the safe return of the residents of the north and south to their homes.”

There was no immediate comment from Sa’ar, who in September said he had turned down an offer to take up the post of defense minister in place of Gallant, calling it inappropriate in light of the ongoing war.

Just as they did in March 2023, protesters took to the streets up and down the country, joining spontaneous demonstrations dubbed “Gallant Night 2,” though the rallies appeared to be significantly smaller than last year’s.

Protests erupted in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, while dozens were reported to be protesting in Haifa, Nahariya and other communities in northern Israel, in defiance of Home Front Command instructions to limit public gatherings amid persistent rocket fire from Lebanon.

In Tel Aviv, thousands descended onto the Ayalon Highway, blocking traffic in both directions, taking advantage of the fact that police had been unable to seal the entrances to the thoroughfare with trucks as they usually do for the weekly Saturday night protests.

In Jerusalem, crowds gathered near Netanyahu’s private residence on Azza Street calling for the removal of the premier, whom they called a “tyrant,” and for the release of the hostages held by Hamas.

The Hostages Families Forum called the firing of Gallant a “direct continuation of the efforts to torpedo the hostage deal.”

In a statement, the group, which represents the families of those taken hostage on October 7, 2023, expressed “deep concern” about the firing, “and how this sudden change could affect the fate of 101 hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.”

It said it expected Katz to “prioritize a hostage deal and work closely with mediators and the international community to secure the immediate release of all hostages,” and added: “Our future as a society depends on the return of all hostages and the end of this war.”

Noam Lehmann and Iddo Schejter contributed to this report.