WhatsappLast nights stunning victory by Donald Trump and the Republican Party sets up massive changes in America as well as here in Israel – especially with the sudden firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Gallant has long been seen as the eyes and ears of the Biden administration within Netanyahu’s cabinet. This is not to say that Gallant shared any confidential secrets necessarily, but was said to often times opt for a more moderate approach in the current war. Gallant also took a more establishment view and strategy when it comes to Judea and Samaria – Israel’s Biblical Heartland.
While Yoav Gallant certainly would have not backed a “palestinian” state in Judea and Samaria, he had no issue in arresting community leaders that promoted a more vociferous local defense policy when it came to arab violence. Many of these local leaders were placed in administrative detention in the beginning of the war. Sources have confirmed that Netanyahu has differed from Israel’s traditional defense establishment when it has come to the farms sprinkled throughout Judea and Samaria. The Prime Minister sees them as critical to preventing a “palestinian” state and wants to bolster them.
With incoming Defense Minister Yisrael Katz a staunch supporter of annexing Judea and Samaria and an incoming Trump administration no opposed to such a move, it is clear that applying sovereignty to all of Israel’s Biblical Heartland may happen sooner than anyone would have thought such short time ago.
Why Did Bibi Fire Gallant Now?
There has always been debate in the government, especially when it has come to Lebanon on how far north Israel should go. Gallant represented the slow approach -possibly even opting for a ceasefire, while Netanyahu wanted the IDF to reach the Litani even in the western part of the South Lebanon, which is the section farthest from Israel.
Winter is coming to the region and with the weather change any real advance in the north will slow and even stop. The Prime Minister knows that with Trump wanting the war to end before he takes office, Israel needs to make a serious advance to the Litani River and northeast into the Beqqa valley before inauguration day. Gallant differed and so after months of disagreements, Netanyahu used the US election as cover and fired the Defense Minister.
Yisrael Katz as Deense Minister will carry out the Prime Minister’s directives, which means we should be seeing far more of an advance up north with the hope that they push Hezbollah across the Litani once and for all.
