Netanyahu fires Gallant, claiming conflicts and a lack of mutual trust aided the adversary.

November 5, 2024. (Reuters / Nir Elias)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday evening, citing a lack of mutual trust during a time of conflict.

Gallant will be succeeded by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, and Gideon Sa'ar, Minister without Portfolio, will take over the Foreign Ministry.

In a brusque letter presented to Gallant during an 8 p.m. meeting, Netanyahu warned him that his employment would end "48 hours from the receipt of this letter."

"I would like to thank you for your service as defense minister," the letter said.

Following the brief meeting, Netanyahu departed the room and taped a video in which he announced the firing of his long-standing Likud party.

"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," Netanyahu stated in the statement's video.
He claimed that the two disagreed on how to run the war and that Gallant made words and acts that contradicted cabinet decisions.
The premier also accused Gallant of indirectly helping Israel's enemies.

"I made many attempts to bridge these gaps, but they kept getting wider," he told me. "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 added.

He stated that the majority of government and cabinet members agreed with him that "this cannot continue." In light of this, I decided today to end the defense minister's tenure."

Netanyahu's announcement on Tuesday marks the second time he has sacked Gallant.

In March 2023, Netanyahu sacked Gallant a day after the defense minister called for a halt to the government's disputed judicial overhaul plans, which he claimed had caused divides and posed a threat to national security.

He was reinstated less than a month later, and he was in charge of the Defense Ministry when Hamas launched its devastating terror attack in southern Israel on October 7, last year. He stayed at his post throughout the