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    • Yoav Gallant is more qualified than Israel Katz to be defense secretary
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    Yoav Gallant is more qualified than Israel Katz to be defense secretary

    Harry Posted on

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Tuesday evening: “crisis of confidence” with “gradually deepening” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant On the eve of the US elections and the impending Iranian attack seemed like something out of a horror movie.

    What justifiable strategy is there to replace a defense minister in the middle of a multi-front war for existence, with tired and exhausted soldiers fighting on two fronts and with no real end in sight?

    Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said Thursday that Netanyahu’s decision was legally valid and his office would not intervene. The move came after the petitioners asked the High Court of Justice to halt the firing.

    deeper meaning

    But let’s leave Gallant aside. Because not only is Gallant a military man more than qualified for this role, he has led Israel’s defense strategy flawlessly over the past year. Even if you didn’t agree with him, his moves, or his policies, he was the man for the job.

    But this isn’t about him. It’s about something much bigger: the ever-eroding sense of stability, consistency, and ultimately leadership.

    Netanyahu’s threat to fire Gallant last March sparked a wave of anger and a sense of both discontent and disgust; these feelings were embodied in an event that soon became one of the strongest demonstrations ever.

    Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant speaks at a press conference at the Hakirya base in Tel Aviv following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to remove him from his post as Minister of Defense on November 5, 2024. (Source: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)

    That energy echoed Tuesday night, but it brought with it something even more worrying: a sense of panic and exhaustion; The feeling is that this is definitely going a step too far – but people are so tired, the hostages’ families are so tortured, that this is all that’s left to try to make a change or at least express their frustration.

    Few reservists on Wednesday expressed feelings of doubt, anger and betrayal. Some expressed skepticism about the decision to fire the defense minister in the middle of the war for ostensibly political reasons, while others expressed disappointment that Gallant was fired in part for opposing a bill that would have exempted eligible ultra-Orthodox (haredi) men. He reported from the draft: to mail‘s Economic Correspondent Eve Young.

    Because anyone with sight and intelligence can see exactly what’s happening here: a punch from below to kick the political chessboard and keep the coalition intact, because if the Haredi parties don’t get what they want, they will tear the coalition apart with tunnel vision. It condemns Israel’s larger needs and goals.

    The reason this is so outrageous is that instead of dealing with the age-old problem between the Haredi sector and its much more hard-working and contributing citizens, instead of addressing the very urgent protection needs that the State of Israel needs, this move maintains the status quo and falls further on the backs of people who are too tired to bear it. It puts too much load on it.

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    A true leader finds a way to close these gaps, sees the cracks in the society he is responsible for managing and protecting, and deals with them. What we see is the exact opposite and the situation becomes even more arrogant.

    “We expect our soldiers to be strong and fight with everything they have. But what does this power mean when the message in the Knesset to both our troops and our enemies is that there is fragmented leadership and weak priorities?” asked Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein.

    “Gallant’s dismissal here and now is not a simple bureaucratic reshuffle: It is an earthquake, a shockwave that has rattled from the top of government to the trenches on the battlefield; “It screams chaos,” he wrote. “Why fire Gallant in the middle of battle? Because he had the courage to publish draft announcements…? Because the survival of the coalition suddenly casts a shadow over national security? That’s what this soldier in Gaza heard. Is this what I’m fighting for? Is this what I am willing to die for?”

    If the rot is so obvious from the top, what might that say about our society?

    Currently, the positions of prime minister, defense minister and foreign minister are effectively filled by a single person: Netanyahu. Israel Katz is not qualified for this role, and the deal Gideon Sa’ar accepted is a stab in the back for the public. We deserve better leaders.



    Harry
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