Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is contemplating dismissing his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, according to Israeli media reports, a move that would sideline one of the Biden administration’s few remaining interlocutors in the hard-line Israeli government.
A former general, Mr. Gallant, 65, is a member of Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party. But the two have long butted heads; in recent months, Mr. Gallant has repeatedly taken positions that put him at odds with Mr. Netanyahu over the conduct of Israel’s war against Hamas and its allies.
Mr. Netanyahu would replace Mr. Gallant with Gideon Saar, whose New Hope faction commands four seats in Israel’s 120-member Parliament, according to the reports.
Neither Mr. Netanyahu nor Mr. Saar has explicitly denied that the two are negotiating his entry into the government. In a statement, Mr. Saar’s party said there was “nothing new” on the matter, while Mr. Netanyahu’s office said that the reports were incorrect.
But a growing number of Likud lawmakers have called for Mr. Gallant’s immediate dismissal, accusing him of being disloyal to Mr. Netanyahu and undermining the government.
“It’s insufferable, and the prime minister seems to understand that it’s insufferable, and that a new defense minister is needed,” Shlomo Karhi, a Likud minister, said in a televised interview. “Who will that be? What’s needed is someone the prime minister can trust.”
Mr. Gallant’s dismissal would remove perhaps the most significant Israeli leader who vigorously supports a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would free the hostages held in Gaza. He has also been a key point of contact for the United States amid tensions between Mr. Netanyahu and the Biden administration.
But bringing in Mr. Saar could also curb the influence of hard-line politicians like Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, in Mr. Netanyahu’s government. His governing coalition has a thin majority in Parliament, allowing Mr. Ben-Gvir to threaten to topple his rule.
Putting Mr. Saar into the role of defense minister would both weaken Mr. Ben-Gvir’s position and rid Mr. Netanyahu of Mr. Gallant, said Nadav Shtrauchler, an Israeli political consultant who has worked for the prime minister.
“It’s no secret that the two of them have clashed in most stages of the war, and it’s only gotten worse,” Mr. Shtrauchler said.
Last March, Mr. Netanyahu sought to fire Mr. Gallant after he expressed concerns over a hotly contested plan by the prime minister to weaken Israel’s judiciary. Spontaneous mass protests erupted in response, forcing Mr. Netanyahu to back down.
In May, Mr. Gallant warned that the lack of a postwar plan for governing Gaza could force Israel to impose direct military rule in the territory, costing it “blood and many victims, for no purpose.” His remarks were widely understood as an implicit criticism of Mr. Netanyahu.
Three months later, he was the sole Israeli minister to vote against a cabinet decision that prevented Israel from withdrawing from Gaza’s border with Egypt as part of a cease-fire agreement, widely seen as a key obstacle to reaching a deal with Hamas. Mr. Netanyahu has insisted that Israel maintain a presence there during a proposed truce.
The post Netanyahu Is Said to Consider Firing Israel’s Defense Minister appeared first on New York Times.