‘Endless’ wars: What Israel’s political drama means for Gaza, Lebanon

Protests and violence in cities across Israel greeted the news that the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sacked Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Water cannon were hurled at protesters in Tel Aviv where crowds blocked traffic and lit fires, with similar unrest reported in Jerusalem, Haifa, Caesarea and other cities.

Demonstrators called the prime minister a “traitor” and called for “democracy or revolution”.

Israeli border police in Jerusalem try to keep demonstrators away from a fire next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence during a protest after Netanyahu sacked his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, citing a lack of trust [File: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]

In a statement posted to his X account, Netanyahu cited a “crisis of trust” with Gallant that he claimed had “helped the enemy”.

In a televised news conference, Gallant, infamous for likening Palestinians to “human animals”, attributed his dismissal to three factors, none connected to the issues of trust stated by the prime minister.

Gallant said he was fired because of his wartime positions – that he supported extending enlistment to religious students, his calls for an official commission of inquiry into the security failings that resulted in the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, and due to his backing of a ceasefire deal that would see the captives taken on that day returned.

On this last issue, which has dominated Israeli media coverage of the war in Gaza, Gallant said, “There is and will not be any atonement for abandoning the captives.”

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

“What’s more, the three issues he chose are all very popular among the public. We don’t know how this will be received in the street, but it could make a real difference” to the government’s future course, he told Al Jazeera.

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

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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Yoav Gallant have disagreed on several issues over the years [File: Shir Torem/Pool via Reuters]

History of hostility

Netanyahu and Gallant have been uneasy allies since before the current war on Gaza.

During the Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel, 1,139 people were killed and about 250 were taken captive. Since then, Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 43,391 Palestinians.

Netanyahu first attempted to sack Gallant last March over his public opposition to Netanyahu’s controversial attempts to uncouple Israel’s government from judicial oversight.

Following a surge in public protest, Netanyahu reversed his decision, reinstating Gallant a month later.

Their relationship has remained rocky throughout the war.

Both share the prospect of being subject to potential warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for potential war crimes.

But they have clashed over a potential post-war strategy and argued over priorities. Gallant supports a ceasefire deal that would see Israel’s captives returned, while Netanyahu insists upon “total victory”.

In August, Gallant reportedly dismissed Netanyahu’s military ambitions in Gaza as “nonsense” and the premier in turn accused his defence 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 priority over a US-drafted ceasefire proposal.

Gallant reportedly told his cabinet colleagues that Netanyahu’s desire to retain the Philadelphi Corridor, considered by several observers as part of a continuing attempt to prolong the war for the PM’s political career, was a “moral disgrace”.

However, Gallant’s case for a ceasefire was undermined in a matter of days when European newspapers published classified documents, allegedly leaked from the Israeli army, suggesting that Hamas intended to smuggle the captives and much of their leadership across the corridor and into Egypt.

These papers, alleged to be Hamas military strategy documents, were suspected to have been manipulated, with Netantahu’s spokesperson among those arrested.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing by members of his office.

War without end

“I don’t think Gallant’s sacking will make a great deal of difference to the way the war is prosecuted,” Israeli analyst Nimrod Flashenberg said. “I mean, I can’t see Israel pulling out of Lebanon and Gaza in the short term.

“However, Gallant’s dismissal has removed one of the loudest voices for a ceasefire in the government. That’s obviously bad news for the hostages, but, for people in Gaza particularly, we’re looking at endless war.”

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

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

מברך את ראש הממשלה על ההחלטה לפטר את גלנט. עם גלנט שעדיין שבוי עמוק בקונספציה לא ניתן להגיע לניצחון המוחלט – וטוב עשה ראש הממשלה שהעביר אותו מתפקידו.

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

Translation: Congratulates the prime minister on the decision to fire Gallant. With Gallant, who is still deeply trapped in the concept, it is not possible to achieve absolute victory – and the prime minister did well to remove him from his position.

“It’s a win for Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, as well as other hawks within the cabinet, such as Gideon Saar,” Flashenberg said, referring to the right-wing former Netanyahu critic who entered government in late September,

They saw Gallant and much of the military as “self-deluding” for believing negotiating with Hamas was possible.

Several experts interviewed by Al Jazeera pointed to the timing of Gallant’s dismissal, given the US election.

“The Israeli military, of which Gallant is a product, is very closely tied to the US,” political analyst Ori Goldberg said from Tel Aviv.

“That’s where they train, that’s where they get their weapons. Gallant’s voice within cabinet was essentially the US’s voice,” he said.

“Gallant’s replacement, Israel Katz, doesn’t have that background. He’s loyal to one man and that’s Netanyahu,” he said.

Israel’s new Defence Minister Israel Katz pictured in Jerusalem, on August 16, 2024 [File: Florion Goga/Reuters]