Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reversed the resignation of Defense Minister Joav Gallant following mass protests. Faced with the worsening security situation, he has decided to leave Gallant in charge, the head of government said late on Monday. He and Gallant would have settled their differences. “We will work together for Israel’s security,” Netanyahu promised.
The head of the religious right-wing government sacked Gallant, who like him belongs to the right-wing conservative Likud party, about two weeks ago because he called for a halt to the controversial judicial reform. Netanyahu has now put that on hold. Immediately there were new street protests against Gallant’s dismissal. The opposition and experts criticized the dismissal as unprofessional given the precarious security situation in Israel.
The security situation in Israel has deteriorated in recent days. For example, the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights were bombed from Syria, and the country was also attacked with rockets from Lebanon. Deadly clashes between Israelis and Palestinians broke out again.
In the evening, Netanyahu said: “Our country is under a terrorist attack.” He accused the government of his predecessor, Jair Lapid, of undermining deterrence. He was referring to a maritime border agreement with Lebanon that the Lapid government signed in October. Netanyahu spoke of an “agreement with (Lebanese militia) Hezbollah”. Netanyahu announced that he would restore security.
He threatened the Syrian government of ruler Bashar al-Assad that it would “pay a high price” if there were further rocket attacks against Israel. His country will also not allow the infrastructure of the Palestinian Islamic organization Hamas to be installed in Lebanon. Rockets were also fired at Israel from Lebanon on Thursday.
Netanyahu added that he would stick to judicial reform but wanted to seek broad consensus. Minority rights will be guaranteed. Netanyahu’s current government is more right-wing than any previous government. She has been in office for three months. Overall, Netanyahu has been in office longer than any Israeli prime minister before him.