Netanyahu fires Defense Minister Yoav Gallant

Israel Katz has been named as the new defense minister while Gideon Sa'ar replaces Katz as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu said, "In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is needed between the prime minister and minister of defense. Unfortunately, although in the first months of the war there was such trust and there was very productive work, in recent months that trust between the minister of defense and myself has been broken."

He continued, "Significant differences have emerged between Gallant and myself in the management of the war, and these differences were accompanied by statements and actions that contradicted the decisions of the government and the decisions of the cabinet. I made many attempts to bridge these gaps, but they kept getting wider. They also came to the public's attention in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the attention of the enemy - our enemies took pleasure in this and derived a lot of benefit from it.

"Differing opinions in open discussions, everyone knows, those who know me - this is my way of managing the discussions and the evaluations and decisions. Everyone knows this. But the crisis of trust that gradually opened up between me and the minister of defense has come into the public domain, and this crisis does not allow for the proper continuation of management of the war. I'm not the only one who says this, most of the members of the government and most of the members of the cabinet share this feeling that it is impossible to continue like this."

Netanyahu has replaced Gallant with Israel Katz, who currently serves as Minister of Foreign Affairs, where he will be replaced by Gideon Sa'ar.

National Unity party leader MK Benny Gantz said in response,"This is politics at the expense of national security."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 5, 2024.

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