'Endless' Wars: What Israel's Political Drama Means for Gaza and Lebanon | Politics News

Protests and violence in cities across Israel sparked news that the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Water cannons were hurled at protesters in Tel Aviv, where crowds blocked traffic and lit fires. Similar unrest was also reported in Jerusalem, Haifa, Caesarea and other cities.

Protesters called the prime minister a “traitor” and demanded “democracy or revolution.”

In a statement posted on his

In a televised news conference, Gallant, notorious for comparing Palestinians to “human animals,” attributed his dismissal to three factors, none of which are related to the trust issues outlined by the prime minister.

Gallant said he was fired because of his positions during the war – for supporting the expansion of recruitment to religious students, for his calls for an official commission of inquiry into the security failures that led to the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and due to his support of a ceasefire agreement that provided for the return of prisoners taken that day.

On this latest issue, which has dominated Israeli media coverage of the war in Gaza, Gallant said: “There is and will be no reparation for the abandonment of the prisoners.”

“Gallant spoke very well,” said Jerusalem-based pollster and former political adviser Mitchell Barak.

“In addition, the three topics he selected are all very popular with the audience. We don't know how this will be received on the street, but it could make a real difference to the government's future course, he told Al Jazeera.

“Changing the defense minister during a war is also unprecedented and potentially dangerous,” Barak added.

But given the current focus on the US elections, “the firing has lost some of its impact locally and around the world.”

History of hostility

Netanyahu and Gallant were uneasy allies even before the current Gaza war.

During the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, 1,139 people were killed and about 250 captured. Since then, the Israeli genocide in Gaza has killed at least 43,391 Palestinians.

Netanyahu first tried to fire Gallant last March because he publicly opposed Netanyahu's controversial attempts to decouple the Israeli government from judicial oversight.

After a wave of public protests, Netanyahu reversed his decision and reinstated Gallant a month later.

Their relationship remained rocky throughout the war.

What both have in common is the prospect of potentially being subject to arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for possible war crimes.

But they argued about a possible postwar strategy and argued about priorities. Gallant supports a ceasefire agreement that includes the return of Israeli prisoners, while Netanyahu insists on a “total victory.”

In August, Gallant reportedly dismissed Netanyahu's military ambitions in Gaza as “nonsense” and the prime minister, in turn, accused his defense minister of adopting an “anti-Israel narrative.”

In September, Netanyahu said that Israeli control of the strip of land separating Gaza from Egypt, the Philadelphi Corridor, should take precedence over a ceasefire proposal drawn up by the United States.

Gallant reportedly told his Cabinet colleagues that Netanyahu's desire to keep the Philadelphia Corridor was a “moral disgrace,” which was seen by several observers as part of an ongoing attempt to prolong the war over the prime minister's political career.

However, Gallant's argument for a ceasefire was undermined within days when European newspapers published secret documents allegedly leaked by the Israeli army that suggested Hamas intended to transport the prisoners and much of its leadership via the corridor to Egypt to smuggle.

These papers, purported to be Hamas military strategy documents, were suspected to have been tampered with. Netantahu's spokesman was among those arrested.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing by members of his office.

War without end

“I don’t think Gallant’s dismissal will make much of a difference in the way the war is fought,” said Israeli analyst Nimrod Flashenberg. “I mean, I can't imagine Israel withdrawing from Lebanon and Gaza in the short term.

“However, Gallant’s firing has eliminated one of the loudest voices for a ceasefire in government. This is of course bad news for the hostages, but especially for the people of Gaza we are facing an endless war.”

In addition to his confrontations with Netanyahu over a possible ceasefire, Gallant battled with the prime minister's hardline allies in the Cabinet, such as the far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the right-wing provocateur Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is in charge of Israel's national security.

Ben-Gvir congratulated Netanyahu on firing Gallant in a post on X.

מברך את ראש הממשלה על ההחלטה לפטר את גלנט. – וב עשה ראש הממשלה שהעביר אותו מתפקידו.

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) November 5, 2024

Translation: Congratulate the Prime Minister on the decision to fire Gallant. With Gallant still deeply entrenched in the concept, absolute victory is not possible – and the Prime Minister did well to remove him from office.

“It is a victory for Smotrich and Ben-Gvir as well as other hawks in the cabinet, such as Gideon Saar,” Flashenberg said, referring to the right-wing former Netanyahu critic who joined the government in late September.

They viewed Gallant and much of the military as “self-deluding” because they believed negotiations with Hamas were possible.

Several experts interviewed by Al Jazeera pointed to the timing of Gallant's firing in light of the US election.

“The Israeli military, whose product is Gallant, is very closely aligned with the United States,” said Tel Aviv political analyst Ori Goldberg.

“That’s where they train, that’s where they get their weapons. “Gallant’s voice in the Cabinet was essentially the voice of the United States,” he said.

“Gallant's successor, Israel Katz, does not have that background. He is loyal to one man and that is Netanyahu,” he said.