ISRAEL – We’ve known for months that there is no love lost between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his now former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant. But this year, there have been reports of stand-up rows and shouting matches between the two men over Israel’s war strategy. Gallant has vastly more military experience than Netanyahu. He began his career as a navy commando in 1977 and rose to be a major general in Israel’s Southern Command, overseeing two wars in Gaza between 2005 and 2010. The suspicion is that Gallant’s military superiority and respect from within the armed forces grated with his boss. In Israel’s hard-line government, the most right-wing in the country’s history, Gallant was less hawkish than some of his fellow ministers. But he was no dove. After Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, the country’s biggest ever military humiliation, Gallant was initially fully behind the war in Gaza. Along with Netanyahu, he faces possible war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court. Both men rejected the allegations made by the ICC’s prosecutor when he sought warrants for them in May. But in recent months as defence minister, Gallant argued that Israel’s government should prioritise a hostage release deal with Hamas and end the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu hasn’t listened, insisting that continued military pressure on Hamas was the best way to free the remaining Israelis being held. Since the beginning of the year, Gallant had raised concerns about the lack of a post-war strategy. Again, it fell on deaf ears. He has pushed for a comprehensive investigation into the military, political, and intelligence failings that led to the 7 October attack.

The prime minister has been resistant, arguing now is not the time. Gallant was also unhappy at plans to continue to allow Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students to be exempt from serving in the military. At a time of multiple wars, he said, the country couldn’t afford such luxuries. Netanyahu, wary of the collapse of his coalition government which has been dependent on support from the ultra-Orthodox parties, paid no heed. (BBC)…[+]

Photo: Israel’s new defence minister has virtually no military experience. (Reuters)