netanhayu fires defend minister

[EasterIssland]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqj07jdzzgno

It's been on the cards for a long time. Netanyahu fired Gallant for the first time in early 2023 sparking enormous street protests (it's not that the left and centre particularly like Gallant, but Gallant criticised the government's judicial reform). And once again, this time Gallant criticised the security cabinet for insisting on conditions that prevent a hostage deal from happening.

I'm literally at a loss with this government. They are so corrupt and self-interested. But there is almost nothing anyone can do until the coalition falls. There are cracks showing (mainly due to internal political issues) but somehow they keep holding on, mainly because the most extreme parties realise that they won't be part of the next coalition.

Netanyahu only doing what he does best. Causing chaos all around him.

@israelilefty how much opposition will there be to the current firing do you think?

There are many people out on the streets all over the country right now (including hostage families and the 2023 protest organizations) and the main highway that runs through Tel Aviv has been blocked. The protests will be large but probably not the scale we saw in early-mid 2023 over the judicial overhaul bc people are just totally exhausted after nearly two years of judicial reform protests and war, and I doubt if anyone thinks the protests will make any difference. Really, the only hope is for the coalition to fall, but the protests won't make that happen.

So is he more popular than Netanyahu?
Isn't there a possibility for him also having an arrest warrant issued by the ICC for war crimes?

It’s not that he is more popular, but he is one of the only senior ministers who dared to stand up to Netanyahu. Both times he was fired he opposed destructive policies of the coalition. In 2023 he opposed the “judicial reform”, and now he was in favour of three things supported by the opposition: he sees a ceasefire/hostage deal as a priority, he supports a state inquiry into the failures of Oct 7, and he is against continuing the situation where ultra-Orthodox men don’t serve in the army. The latter is a big point in internal politics as many men have been doing hundreds of days of reserve duty during the last year and have barely seen their families, and there is huge resentment that a whole sector of Jewish-Israeli society doesn’t serve (and receives state subsidies).

The ultimate reason for the protests is the fact of a prime minister firing critics from within his own party and replacing them with yes-men who will rubber-stamp policies that are seen as damaging and anti-democratic.

Waking up to the news this morning, I'm in fear for the future and for the institution of Western democracy. Netanyahu is proving to be more like other strongmen anti-democratic leaders in the immediate region rather than like the leader of a Western democratic country. That's maybe understandable given the region, and people also forget that the majority of the Israeli population does not hail from countries with a tradition of democracy.

But the USA moving in this direction moves this from a regional to a global current. One Trump administration might have been a blip, but a second is a trend. We are now well out of the post-WWII era of modern democratic nation-building and alliances.

Thank you for the helpful insight @israelilefty

I fear you're right and this is why it was such an indulgence for anyone to vote for Trump because of whatever problem they had with Harris over this or that policy.

Katz has been appointed as the new minister

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/who-is-israel-katz-new-israeli-defence-minister-2024-11-05/