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