Netanyahu reverses the dismissal of the minister who distanced himself from the judicial reform

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has announced this Monday that Yoav Gallant will continue to lead the Defense portfolio, in a reversal of the announcement of his dismissal that he made last month, when he became the first member of the Government to publicly distance themselves from judicial reform.

The removal triggered 24 hours of massive demonstrations, a partial paralysis of the main airport and a general strike that led Netanyahu to temporarily hit the brakes on the controversial legal change he is promoting.

"Gallant will continue in the post", he pointed out at a press conference in Tel Aviv, in which he assured that he had "left behind, not put aside" the differences between the two.

In an appearance on March 26, the Defense Minister defended the need for the reform, but called for its suspension due to the consequences for Israel's security of the political and social schism that it had been generating, such as the refusal of hundreds of army reservists to accomplish certain tasks.

A day later, Netanyahu announced in a brief statement that he was ousted.

The measure set the streets on fire and the head of government was forced, barely 24 hours later, to postpone the reform until the next period of parliamentary sessions, which begins at the end of April and ends in July.

He then found that he was preparing to dispense with one of the country's top and most respected ministers ―as well as a fellow party member (the right-wing Likud) ―for asking for something similar to what he had just announced.

Netanyahu had only verbally communicated the decision to Gallant, not in writing, which is when the last 48 hours in office begin to count.

So the defenestration was left up in the air and gave way to behind-the-scenes negotiations and calls on Netanyahu - from inside and outside the country - to back down,

This Monday, when the escalation of tension in recent days in the Middle East has calmed down and in the midst of a sharp drop in the polls, Netanyahu has abandoned the ambiguity he maintained on the subject to confirm that Gallant will continue to lead Defense.

He immediately responded with a tweet with a photo of both of them and the message: "We continue together with all our strength, for Israel's security."

Netanyahu has made the announcement with two details of great symbolism.

The first is to appear alone, and not with the minister whose recovery he was announcing.

The second, to do it from the complex in Tel Aviv that houses the Ministry of Defense, instead of his office as head of government in Jerusalem, as usual.

As in his previous legislatures, Netanyahu likes to be the visible face of decisions related to security and defense matters, as is the case with this escalation of violence, to which he has dedicated a good part of his speech to blame the former Executive, the broad coalition led for a year and a half by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, today head of the opposition.

Netanyahu has assured that both the important pact with Lebanon for the delimitation of the line of exploitation of gas fields in the Mediterranean, signed by the previous government and which he has once again called "the treason agreement", as well as the resignations of reservists in recent weeks to carry out certain missions in protest of the judicial reform have been interpreted by the "enemies of Israel" as signs of "weakness" that have spurred them to launch dozens of rockets in recent days from Lebanon, Syria and Gaza .

“Our enemies hear that, they see it, and they write what they think.

And they believe that they can beat us ”, he pointed out.

“I told the previous government: don't mess up too much, we'll have to fix it.

And we are fixing it [...] This government will restore calm and security ”, he has sentenced.

In an interview with Israeli television channel 11 minutes after the press conference, Bennett accused Netanyahu of making a "crying" speech in which he "evaded even the slightest responsibility" for the deterioration of the situation. of security.

"It's just the opposite of what this country needs now," he added.

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