In March 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he was firing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Two weeks later, following heated public protests, Netanyahu reversed his decision.
On Nov. 5, Netanyahu fired Gallant for a second time. This time, he followed the announcement with action and appointed Israel Katz, a Likud loyalist, as the Jewish state’s new defense minister.
Gallant has long been a thorn in Netanyahu’s side. In the run-up to the March 2023 “firing,” Gallant angered Netanyahu with his opposition to elements of the government’s judicial overhaul plan, which he warned would embolden Israel’s enemies and pose a risk to national security.
More recently, Gallant has called for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the events surrounding the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre, which Netanyahu has resisted. He urged prioritization of the return of hostages still held by Hamas, even at the price of ending the Gaza war and the fighting with Hezbollah in the north, which Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition partners have opposed.
Additionally, he advocated for enforcement of the mandatory conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews into military service, which the Haredi core of Netanyahu’s coalition has delayed, avoided and frustrated.
Matters came to a head last week, when Gallant led opposition efforts to the demands of ultra-Orthodox parties that the government pass a bill granting day care subsidies to Haredi draft dodgers.
Gallant and other opponents of the bill argued that the provision of economic benefits to those evading military service is wrong and unfair to the vast majority of Israelis who obey the law and perform military service. But the Haredi parties threatened to withhold support for the government’s agenda or even force new elections by withdrawing from the governing coalition if the bill wasn’t passed.
Netanyahu buckled under that pressure and sought to lessen opposition to his Haredi allies’ agenda while satisfying his own political objective of removing his most irritating minister.
As it turned out, the firing of Gallant did nothing to help the prospects of the day care subsidy bill. Netanyahu was forced to withdraw the bill because he didn’t have the votes to pass it. But Netanyahu did get rid of Gallant.
What comes next is not at all clear.
Netanyahu likely feels emboldened by the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president, as he and most Israelis believe that the incoming Trump administration will be less critical of Netanyahu’s policies than what was feared under a possible Harris administration.
But a new Trump administration is not going to help Netanyahu with his need to pass a 2025 budget, which by law must pass in the coming months, or Netanyahu could face snap elections. And that’s where Netanyahu is going to struggle, with or without Gallant as his defense minister.
The Israeli public overwhelmingly supports full enforcement of mandatory military service for Haredim, and opposes efforts to evade, avoid or interfere with that legal requirement. If Netanyahu continues capitulating under ultra-Orthodox pressure to support the Haredim’s refusal to honor the law, he risks public backlash in addition to opposition from non-Haredi members of his coalition.
Gallant may be gone. But none of the issues he was championing are going away.
