Israeli PM Reinstates Defense Minister Gallant Despite Earlier Dismissal

Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a senior member of the opposition, used the period of uncertainty around Gallant’s position as an opportunity to raise his own visibility as a respected authority in the security field

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, speaking at a press conference on Monday night, announced that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant would remain in his post, despite earlier announcements of his dismissal.

The prime minister’s address came in response to growing public anger over the recent wave of terrorist attacks. He attributed the attacks to the weakness of the previous government and the protest movement against his government. Netanyahu claimed that under the previous government, the number of terrorist attacks doubled and that the Bennett-Lapid government transferred gas fields off Israel’s Mediterranean coast “to the enemy without anything in return.” He also blamed Opposition Leader Yair Lapid for warning of a national collapse, saying that such talk emboldened Israel’s enemies. However, Netanyahu assured the public that his government would reestablish deterrence and “defeat our enemies.”

As Israel faced attacks from multiple fronts this weekend, Gallant, whose firing had been announced and then tacitly walked back last month, kept a low profile. Benny Gantz, former defense minister and senior member of the opposition, commented on the situation on national television instead.

In late March, Netanyahu’s office announced Gallant’s firing following the defense minister’s call to pause legislation on Israel’s controversial judicial reforms. Gallant had said on national television that the reforms would endanger Israel’s security. The night that Gallant’s firing was announced, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in protest, and the following day, Israel’s labor federation announced a general strike. That evening, Netanyahu announced a pause on the legislation.

The official letter firing Gallant was never submitted to him, which left him in an uncertain position during which he was still serving as defense minister.

Dr. Liron Lavi, a professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University, told The Media Line that Gantz was attempting to project an image as an authority in the security field while Gallant had been avoiding public statements.

Lavi said Gantz may have been positioning himself to step in as defense minister if the opportunity presents itself. “I think he’s also keeping an eye on an opportunity, maybe to replace [representatives from] … some of the parties in Netanyahu’s government if the security situation gets worse,” she said.

According to Dr. Yonatan Freeman, a political science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Gantz is among the only politicians whose recent political strategy has focused on Israel’s security and defense. Following Gallant’s firing, for example, Gantz posted a tweet calling on Netanyahu to reinstate him.

Freeman said this strategy had been very effective for Gantz, with polls showing that his approval levels were improving.

Before Netanyahu reinstated Gallant, Lavi predicted that the defense minister would remain in his post for the time being but thought Netanyahu would not publicly retract the firing. “Neither one of them would want to go out and admit that they were wrong, so I guess [they] will just keep it the way it is,” she said.

If the judicial reform situation becomes heated again, Lavi said, Netanyahu might follow through with the firing or Gallant might publicly comment on it. “I think they will keep the status quo as is as long as they can,” she said, “as any move from Netanyahu’s side, either admitting that he was wrong firing Gallant or completing the firing, will do even more damage to Netanyahu and his legitimacy.”

Freeman pointed out that the firing was announced not directly by Netanyahu himself but through a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office reporting that Gallant would soon be removed.

“I don’t think that Netanyahu was 100% for this,” Freeman said. “I think he was advised that this should be done, or some of his advisers pushed him to do so. Maybe it was more of an initiative by someone in the Likud [the right-wing party led by Netanyahu] who wants [Gallant’s] job.”

Freeman noted that Gallant was a respected figure in the security field and that the uncertainty around his position might pose a threat to Israeli security. “We are talking about someone who has a very strong background in the military, so taking into account that he is widely respected in Israel and around the world, and widely feared by the enemies of Israel, the fact that his name is up in the air for so long, that indeed could be something that could maybe hurt Israel’s deterrence vis-à-vis the country’s enemies,” he said.

He noted that Hizbullah and Hamas had made recent statements regarding Israel’s internal disputes, vowing to show Israel’s weakness.

Lavi said that this weekend’s terrorist attacks might have been a means for various terrorist organizations to test whether Israel’s security apparatus was still functional and whether Netanyahu and Gallant were still coordinating with each other. “If they will see that the relationship [between Netanyahu and Gallant] is still strong and there is still coordination between them, then they will know that nothing [has] changed substantially,” she said.