Reports: Security chiefs feel PM ‘has given up on hostages’; he’s set to fire some of them
Netanyahu’s office denies TV report he slapped down defense chiefs after Mossad head urged him to take deal; 2nd report says PM to fire Gallant, may oust IDF chief and Shin Bet head
Sources close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have said that the firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “is not a matter of if, but when,” according to a Friday evening television news report.
Speaking on the Kan public broadcaster’s main evening news program, Walla News political correspondent Tal Shalev reported that Netanyahu had planned to ax Gallant when he returned from his visit to the United States, but the dismissal was held up by Hezbollah’s deadly attack on Majdal Shams and the killing this week of two terror chiefs.
She added that there were sources in Netanyahu’s circle who said that after replacing Gallant, the premier plans to also dismiss IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, to eliminate opposition to the way he is handling the negotiations for the return of hostages seized by Hamas on October 7 and their charges that he’s at risk of sabotaging a deal.
A separate television report on Friday evening said that Israel’s security chiefs urged Netanyahu at a top-level security meeting on Wednesday night to utilize the momentum provided by the strikes on terror chiefs to seize the opportunity for a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, and that the prime minister slapped them down.
The meeting took place after the Israeli strike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr on Tuesday night and after the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran early Wednesday morning; Israel has not taken responsibility for that attack.
Channel 12 reported that Mossad chief David Barnea, who has been leading Israel’s negotiations on a deal, said at the meeting that there was a deal ready and that Israel must take it.
But Netanyahu shouted down his security chiefs and told them they were lousy negotiators, according to the unsourced report.
The meeting was reportedly attended by Netanyahu, Gallant, Halevi and Bar, along with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and IDF point man for the hostage talks Nitzan Alon.
The Prime Minister’s Office immediately issued a statement denying the report, specifically the Barnea quote.
Bitter argument
According to Channel 12, the discussion of opportunities for a hostage deal descended into a bitter argument, as follows:
Shin Bet head Bar: “I feel that the prime minister does not want the proposal that is on the table. If that is the case, tell us.”
IDF Gen. Alon: “You know that all the parameters (that you recently added to Israel’s proposal from late May) will not be accepted, and there won’t be a deal. With what you’re saying, we’ve got nothing to go with [in the negotiations]. We’re at zero. ”
IDF chief Halevi reportedly made similar comments to Alon’s.
Mossad head Barnea: “There’s a deal. If we procrastinate, we could miss the opportunity. We must take it.”
Netanyahu, banging on the table: “You are weak. You don’t know how to run a tough negotiation. You are putting words in my mouth. Instead of pressuring the prime minister, put pressure on [Hamas Gaza chief] Sinwar.”
The security chiefs reportedly left the meeting concluding that Netanyahu does not want a deal at this point. It quoted unnamed security sources saying he remains stubborn “even though we have made clear to him that the security establishment can deal with the consequences of a deal.”
The unnamed sources were also quoted asserting, “He has given up on the hostages.”
The Prime Minister’s Office, in response to the report, called it false, and specified that Barnea did not say there is a deal ready and that Israel must take it.
The PMO statement added that it was false to suggest that Hamas has accepted terms for a deal. “It is not even clear that Hamas has withdrawn from its demand that Israel commit [up front] to ending the war and completely withdrawing from the Strip, and [that Israel] not be able to return to fighting.”
Morever, the statement said, “agreement has not yet been reached on the number of living hostages that would be freed, on Israel remaining deployed on the Philadelphi Route [between Gaza and Egypt], on a mechanism to prevent the entry of terrorists and arms via the Netzarim Route [and into northern Gaza], and other important additional details.”
The statement added that all the demands Israel is insisting on are “in accordance with the May 27 Israeli proposal.” Contrary to what is claimed, it said, Netanyahu “has not added a thing” to that proposal, whereas “Hamas is demanding dozens of changes.”
Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar “is the obstacle to a deal,” the statement said, “and not the prime minister, who is prepared to go a long way to free the hostages that are so important to him, while preserving Israel’s security and preventing conditions that would allow Hamas to regain control of the Strip, threaten Israel, and carry out more of the October 7 horrors.”
It is “precisely because of a desire [for a viable deal],” the statement concluded, that Netanyahu has now instructed negotiators to travel to Cairo.
Sa’ar for Gallant?
The Kan report went on to say that Netanyahu plans to elevate officials in place of Gallant, Halevi and Bar who would be dependent upon him and do his bidding. It noted that opposition New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar’s name has been repeatedly floated as a potential candidate for defense minister, despite his denials, but Shalev said that some of Netanyahu’s associates have reservations about the former senior Likud member.
Sa’ar pulled his nationalist New Hope party out of the coalition in March after Netanyahu declined to add him to the now-defunct war cabinet. He has repeatedly accused Netanyahu of failing to prosecute the war against Hamas aggressively enough.
The report also cited talk of a possible general cabinet reshuffle to create the appearance that the prime minister is not just giving Gallant the boot.
Previous reports have predicted that the ouster could happen during the Knesset’s summer recess, which lasts from the end of July until October 27, as even chaotic protests in response to the move would be less likely in that period to cause the government to collapse and trigger new elections.
The defense minister was already a target of right-wing ire before the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, including from within Likud. Netanyahu fired Gallant in March 2023 after he called for the government to pause its controversial judicial overhaul legislation, but reinstated him a month later amid public outcry.