Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday evening that he was removing Defence Minister Yoav Gallant from his position and replacing him with Israel Katz, citing a "crisis of trust" that "gradually deepened."
The move is a stunning shift after the Prime Minister nearly made a similar move in September but made an about-turn.
In a very brief letter that was published by the office of the Prime Minister, Netanyahu writes to Gallant: "your term will end 48 hours from the receipt of this letter."
"I would like to thank you for your service as Defence Minister," he concludes.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz. Minister without Portfolio Gideon Sa'ar will replace Katz as Foreign Minister.
Unfortunately, though in the first months of the war, there was trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the Defence Minister, Netanyahu said in a video statement.
He said they had a disagreement on the handling of the war, and that Gallant had made decisions and issued statements which went against Cabinet decisions.
Netanyahu also accused Gallant of indirectly assisting the enemies of Israel.
"I tried to bridge all these gaps, but they kept widening," he said.
"They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy — our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it."
Most members of the government agree with Netanyahu.
The decision is the latest in a series of moves by Netanyahu as he faces increasing tension in his coalition over the opposition from leaders of the ultra-Orthodox parties to the recent draft.
On Monday, Gallant signed off on expanding the draft of 7,000 more Haredim into the IDF.
After being dropped for Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Gallant released only a brief statement, proclaiming that "the security of the State of Israel always was, and will always remain my life's mission."
It also coincides with Americans going to the polls and US focus elsewhere.
Netanyahu made the announcement that he was going to sack Gallant after the latter warned in March 2023 that the government's judicial reforms are risking national security. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis went into the streets to protest the move, which came to be known as "the Night of Gallant" and Netanyahu retreated.
The relationship between the Prime Minister and Defence Minister has worsened since the outbreak of war on October 7.
Gallant publicly accused Netanyahu of bringing political considerations to his decision-making, while Netanyahu accused Gallant of an attempt to overthrow the government from within.
Gallant is also an obstacle to Netanyahu's attempt to obtain a haredi exemption from IDF service, and his removal may contribute to solving this problem for Netanyahu as well.
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