ReutersWe’ve known for months that there’s no love lost between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his now former defense minister, Yoav Galant.
But this year, reports emerged that the two had quarreled and bickered over Israel’s war strategy.
Galante has much more military experience than Netanyahu.
He began his career as a naval commando in 1977 and rose to major general in Israel’s Southern Command, overseeing two wars in Gaza from 2005 to 2010.
Some suspect that Galante’s military superiority and respect within the military angered his superiors.
Galante is less hawkish than some of his ministerial colleagues in the most right-wing hard-line government in Israel’s history. But he is no pigeon.
Galante initially fully supported the Gaza war after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, the country’s greatest ever military humiliation.
Along with Netanyahu, he faces possible war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court. Both men deny the charges brought by ICC prosecutors in May when they sought arrest warrants for them.
But in recent months, Galante, who has served as defense minister, has argued that the Israeli government should prioritize reaching a hostage release deal with Hamas and ending the Gaza war.
Netanyahu refused to listen, insisting that continued military pressure on Hamas was the best way to free the remaining imprisoned Israelis.
Since the beginning of the year, Galante has expressed concern about the lack of a postwar strategy. Once again, it fell on deaf ears.
He pushed for a full investigation into the military, political and intelligence failures that led to the Oct. 7 attack.
The Prime Minister has been resisting, arguing that now is not the time.
Galante is also dissatisfied with plans to continue exempting Israeli ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service.
He said the country could not afford such luxuries during a time of multiple wars.
Netanyahu, concerned that his coalition government, which relies on support from ultra-Orthodox parties, would collapse, ignored it.
ReutersIsrael Katz, the new defense minister who took over as foreign minister yesterday, is more hawkish and more in line with his boss’s thinking.
After his appointment, he vowed to “achieve the goals of the war,” including “returning all hostages as the most important moral mission, destroying Hamas in Gaza, [and] The defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon”.
But compared to Galante, Katz had almost no military experience.
This will raise concerns at home and abroad at a time when Israel is fighting two wars in Gaza and Lebanon that could further engulf the entire Middle East.
The cabinet has now lost its last minister willing and able to stand up to Netanyahu, which may be another reason for Galante’s ouster.
There have been rumors for months that he was about to be fired.
The timing of his dismissal, coinciding with the US election, cannot be ignored.
The former defense secretary has a much better relationship with President Joe Biden’s White House than Netanyahu, whose relationship has been frosty at best.
His dismissal could be seen as another jab at the outgoing US administration.
It would not be surprising if the Israeli prime minister is more willing to listen to the war strategy recommendations from Donald Trump’s team.
ReutersOf course, in the merry-go-round world of Israeli politics, no one would be shocked if this wasn’t the last we heard from Galante.
He was dismissed as defense minister in March 2023.
At the time, he joined many senior military officials and former military officials who were dissatisfied with Netanyahu’s controversial plans to reform the justice system.
After his dismissal, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets demanding his reinstatement.
Just days later, Netanyahu was forced to back down, allowing Galante to return to his original position.
Protests broke out again in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Tuesday night, but on a different scale, as news broke that he had been sacked again.
Galante belongs to the same party as Netanyahu and Likud and may one day challenge him for leadership in any future elections.
But the fact that he now has his marching orders shows the Prime Minister is feeling strong.
As has been the case over the past year, it is Israel’s longest-serving leader, most Machiavellian and most successful political operator who is calling the shots.
