© Avshalom SassoniIsraeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant Sunday after he pressed for a pause on plans for a
judicial overhaul.
Netanyahu's office
announced it would "dismiss" Gallant from his post but did not immediately specify if he will receive a new position elsewhere in the administration. Gallant called for halting Netanyahu's controversial judicial reform plans due to widespread unease within the military.
Gallant said,
per the
Times of Israel:
"I hear their voices, and I am worried. The growing rift in our society is penetrating the IDF and security agencies. This poses a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state. I will not lend my hand to this."
Under the plan championed by Netanyahu,
the Knesset, Israel's parliament, would gain the ability to overrule Supreme Court rulings. Netanyahu argued the reforms were necessary to streamline the legislative process and stave off judicial overreach. The proposal has sparked widespread protests across Israel and has even seeped into the Israel Defense Forces.
Netanyahu is the first sitting prime minister to sit as a defendant in court for charges of fraud. He has denied wrongdoing.
Critics of Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in the nation's history, assailed the move.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said:
"[This is] a new low for an anti-Zionist government that is harming national security and ignoring the warnings of all security figures. The Israeli prime minister is a danger to the State of Israel."
Multiple allies of Israel, such as the United States, have voiced consternation over the planned overhaul.Last week,
President Joe Biden told Netanyahu over the phone
he had never seen such fierce levels of angst in Israel and raised concerns about the repercussions of the move, Axios
reported.
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In his first response since his dismissal, Gallant wrote that the "security of the State of Israel has always been and will always be my life's mission."
Netanyahu simply responded, "everyone must stand up to insubordination."
Netanyahu proved on Sunday that Israel's security is not his chief priority, former IDF chief of staff MK Gadi Eisenkot remarked:
"Gallant's dismissal is a disgrace to Netanyahu's legacy and a dangerous bet on all of our lives."
Former defense minister MK Benny Gantz wrote in reaction to Gallant's dismissal:
"We face a clear and immediate danger to Israel's security. This evening, Netanyahu put politics and himself above security."
Opposition head Yair Lapid said of Gallant's firing:
"Just because he warned of a threat to Israel's security, is a new low for this anti-Zionist government. Netanyahu can fire Gallant, but he can't fire reality and he can't fire the Israelis who are standing up against this coalition's insanity. The prime minister is a danger to Israel's security."
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett reacted to the dismissal, saying:
"The State of Israel is in the greatest danger since the Yom Kippur War. I call on the Prime Minister to withdraw Gallant's dismissal letter, suspend the reform and begin a pause in negotiations until after Independence Day. It doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong. I call on all the demonstrators and all the citizens of Israel - do everything without violence, without bloodshed. We are brothers."
The Otzma Yehudit party on the other hand stated their support of Gallant's dismissal:
"We are supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin not to stop the legislation. The right has no mandate to give up the legal reform and surrender to violence. The majority of the people supported us to govern."
The Movement for Quality of Government said it takes the dismissal of Gallant "extremely seriously," adding that Netanyahu is not "ethically or morally" qualified to fulfill his role as prime minister:
"The movement will consider legal action to stop this scandalous dismissal."
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