Sacked defence minister did not ‘co-ordinate’ with party

The political standoff in Israel escalated on Sunday when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired defence minister Yoav Gallant.

Mr Gallant, a member of Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party, had strongly criticised the Prime Minister’s plans to overhaul the country’s judiciary.

On Sunday, Mr Gallant said that the “deepening split is seeping into the military and defence institutions – this is a clear, immediate and real danger to Israel’s security”.

Mr Netanyahu’s government removed him that night, saying his comments had not been co-ordinated with his party.

The former general, who is 64, entered politics in 2015 after more than 40 years in the military, a career only interrupted briefly in the early 1980s when he left the army to work as a lumberjack in Alaska.

But the former commando soon returned to service and went on to lead Shayetet 13, the country’s naval commando unit.

Last month, about 550 members of the unit urged Mr Gallant to oppose Mr Netanyahu’s judicial reforms.

“We, who belong to all parts of the nation and have many and varied political views … call on in this time of emergency for the state of Israel to do everything in your power to stop the legislation to weaken the judiciary, to safeguard Israeli democracy,” the former commandos said.

It is unclear whether this, or the fact that serving Israeli soldiers withheld their military duty in opposition to Mr Netanyahu, influenced Mr Gallant’s comments.

After leading the commando force, Mr Gallant went on to lead forces in the south of the country near Gaza, eventually rising to become the head of the army’s Southern Command.

He led forces during the 2008 operation against Hamas in the Gaza strip, known as Operation Cast Lead, which involved nearly a month of fighting and led to the deaths of 1,417 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

After leaving the army, his political career progressed rapidly and, in 2015, he became the country’s minister of construction and served for four years.