Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, saying he has lost confidence in him, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office on Tuesday.
He will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
“Although there was trust in the first months of the war and the work was very fruitful, this trust between me and the Minister of Defense has unfortunately been broken in recent months,” Netanyahu wrote.
He said Gallant had made decisions and statements that contradicted Cabinet decisions.
Gallant issued his own statement. “The security of the State of Israel has always been and always will be my life’s work,” he said.
It is not the first time Netanyahu has fired him, although he reversed the decision in April last year. Gallant criticized controversial judicial reforms, but there were mass protests after he was fired.
Opposition members criticized Netanyahu’s move.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called dropping Galant in the middle of the war an “act of madness” and called on Israelis to protest.
“Take to the streets,” Yair Golan, leader of the opposition Labor party, echoed in a post on social media platform X. Hundreds immediately followed the call in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the Times of Israel said.
“Politics comes at the expense of national security,” said National Unity leader Benny Gantz, a former member of Netanyahu’s now-defunct war cabinet.
His resignation was welcomed by ultranationalist politician Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, who said winning the war with Gallant was impossible.
There were reports in the past that Gallant opposed plans for a major military operation in Lebanon, although these were backed by the military and Netanyahu at least appeared to support the plans.
Gallant called for more diplomatic efforts and an effort to reach an agreement with the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and a ceasefire in Gaza.
Netanyahu appointed Gideon Saar, previously minister without portfolio, as the new foreign minister.
Katz’s appointment as defense minister came as a surprise to some who had seen Saar as the most likely candidate for the job.
Israel has been fighting on several fronts for more than a year, against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has also been attacked by pro-Iranian militias in Syria, Iraq and Yemen and is now in open conflict with Iran itself and preparing for a possible counter-attack from Tehran.
The fighting began after the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel by Hamas and other Gaza Strip extremists, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 kidnapped.
