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

The news that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired defense minister Yoav Gallant greeted protests and violence in Israeli cities.

Similar unrest was reported in Jerusalem, Haifa, Caesarea, and other cities, with water cannons hurled at protesters in Tel Aviv, where crowds slowed traffic and lit fires.

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

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 claimed that he was fired because of his positions during the war, supporting the return of religious students, calling for an official commission of inquiry into the security breaches that led to the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and backing a ceasefire agreement that would allow the captives taken on that day to return.

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

“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 defense minister in a war is unprecedented and potentially dangerous,” Barak continued.

However, “the firing has lost some of the impact locally and globally given the current focus on the US election.”

History of hostility

Before the current conflict in Gaza, Gallant and Netanyahu have been antagonistic allies.

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&nbsp, 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.

Throughout the entire war, their relationship has remained tense.

Both have concerns about potential international criminal court (ICC) warrants for potential war crimes.

However, they have argued over priorities and potential post-war strategy. 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.

Several observers saw the desire of Netanyahu to maintain the Philadelphi Corridor as part of a continuing attempt to prolong the PM’s political career, according to Gallant, who reportedly told his cabinet colleagues.

Gallant’s argument for a ceasefire was jeopardized in a matter of days when European newspapers published allegedly leaked classified documents suggesting Hamas intended to smuggle the captives and a large portion 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 that his office staff members have done anything wrong.

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.

In a post on X, Ben-Gvir thanked Netanyahu for firing Gallant.

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.

Translation: Congratulates the prime minister on the decision to fire Gallant. It is impossible to achieve total victory without Gallant, who is still deeply entangled in the idea, and the prime minister did well to remove him.

” 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 thought Gallant and the majority of the military were “self-deluding” for assuming Hamas could negotiate.

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

Source: Aljazeera