Netanyahu just fired his defense minister with a three-line letter and a three-minute meeting. That's how you end a wartime partnership these days, apparently.
The timing couldn't be worse. Yoav Gallant's dismissal comes as thousands of Israelis are spending hundreds of days away from their families on reserve duty, fighting in Israel's toughest war in decades.
But for Netanyahu, the final straw was when Gallant issued 7,000 draft notices to the ultra-Orthodox community.
Behind the scenes though, tension has been brewing for months. During the war, Gallant formed what insiders called "the iron fist" – a tight alliance with IDF Chief Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar. Their united front on military decisions reportedly left Netanyahu feeling sidelined and, sources say, more than a little threatened.
This isn't the first time Netanyahu has tried to show Gallant the door. The prime minister has been itching to settle scores since March 2023, when public outcry forced him to reinstate Gallant after firing him during the judicial reform protests.
This time, with his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners breathing down his neck over the draft law, Netanyahu saw his chance.
But the political chess move seems to have backfired spectacularly. Instead of calming his religious partners, he's managed to infuriate just about everyone else.
Israelis are already seething over proposals for blanket military exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox community. Now, by sacrificing a popular defense minister to protect those exemptions, Netanyahu has thrown fuel on the fire.
His solution was appointing Yisrael Katz – a man with zero defense experience – as the new defense minister, and shuffling Gideon Saar into the foreign ministry.
Even Netanyahu's own Likud party members are uncomfortable.
The ultra-Orthodox parties might have won this round, but at what cost? As one political insider put it, even if firing Gallant keeps the coalition intact, it won't solve a single one of their actual problems.
Netanyahu might have removed a political rival and thrown his religious partners a bone, but he's left the country more divided than ever. And in the middle of a war, that's quite an achievement – just not the kind he was hoping for.
*Analysis as of November 6, 2024; Vozisneais contributed to this article.*
