Netanyahu Dismisses Israeli Defense Minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Galant, according to Haaretz. The Jerusalem Post clarifies that the new Defense Minister is Israel Katz, who previously held the role of Foreign Minister.

“My highest duty as Prime Minister of Israel is to ensure the security of the country and lead us to a decisive victory. In wartime, complete trust between the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister is more necessary than ever. If in the first months of the campaign we had such trust and achieved a lot, unfortunately, in recent months this trust between me and the Defense Minister has deteriorated,” Netanyahu stated.

According to Netanyahu, he and Galant had disagreements over the conduct of the war. “I made numerous attempts to resolve those disagreements, but they grew. All of this became apparent to our enemies, which allowed them to take advantage of it,” the Prime Minister's remarks were quoted by Times of Israel.

Netanyahu also mentioned that the majority of cabinet members support his decision. Immediately after announcing his dismissal, Galant stated that “the security of Israel has always been and remains my life’s mission.”