Netanyahu returns Defense portfolio to Gallant

He attributes the rebound in attacks to “inherited” errors

10 (EUROPA PRESS)

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has announced on Monday the revocation of the dismissal of Yoav Gallant as Defense Minister after the withering announcement in which he removed him from office after questioning the controversial judicial reform now paralyzed after weeks of protests and mobilizations.

“We are together and collaborate continuously,” Netanyahu said, referring to his relationship with Gallant, who, according to the prime minister, “will remain in office and continue working to protect Israeli citizens.”

Gallant himself, who remained in office as acting minister pending a possible replacement, responded to the announcement on Twitter: “We continue together with all our strength in favor of Israel’s security,” he published in a message. accompanied by a photograph of both.

On March 25, Gallant warned that the protests against Netanyahu’s judicial reform were endangering Israel’s security due to the extension of the response to Army reservists, who refused to carry out voluntary internships, and called for the suspension of their parliamentary procedure. The next day Netanyahu announced his removal from office.

UPGRADE OF ATTACKS

Netanyahu has announced Gallant’s reinstatement at a press conference whose main focus was the country’s security situation and in this sense has blamed the previous governments and the protests for the current upsurge in attacks.

“Our country is the target of a terrorist attack, but it has not started now. In previous governments the number of terrorist attacks doubled. Previous governments gave territories with gas to the enemy without anything in return,” Netanyahu said.

A journalist reminded Netanyahu that in recent governments the death toll in attacks was around 33 a year, while in the first 100 days of Netanyahu’s current government there have been 19 deaths, to which the prime minister has responded that the previous government depended “on the Muslim Brotherhood” in reference to the Islamist party Raam, and therefore “could not act against terrorism.”

In particular, Netanyahu has singled out former prime minister and opposition leader Yair Lapid and his warnings about the risk of national crisis over judicial reform. “Our enemies see it, they hear it. They think they can defeat us with a combined attack from Lebanon, Syria and Gaza,” he stressed.

“I tell you tonight, people of Israel, we are going to push back these threats and we are going to defeat our enemies. We have done it before and we will do it again. We are going to bring back deterrence, we are going to fix the damage we have inherited,” he has said, adding that “enemies” who think this is an opportunity to attack will find out “how terribly wrong they are.”

The president has argued that he cannot provide information on “everything” that the government is doing for Israel’s security, but he has assured that they are doing “a lot.” “We have acted against Iranian targets in Syria,” he said.

NATIONAL GUARD

Regarding the plans to create a National Guard that reports directly to the Minister of National Security, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, Netanyahu has stressed that this new police force is “necessary”, but “it will not be anyone’s militia”, but rather “an adequate and professional public force”.

Ben Gvir agreed with Netanyahu to quickly promote the creation of this National Guard in exchange for his approval to paralyze the parliamentary process of the judicial reform in what the opposition considered an attempt to circumvent the democratic controls of the Police by creating a new body.

Also in the key of national politics, Netanyahu has downplayed the latest poll that predicts an electoral collapse of his party, the Likud. “It doesn’t affect me. I’ve seen worse,” he said.

“This government will govern for four years. The determining factor in the end will be how we manage security, the economy, health, education and peace,” he stressed.

RESPONSE OF THE OPPOSITION

Opposition leader Yair Lapid has criticized Netanyahu for “blaming others” for problems caused by his “extremist and failed government.” “The time has come for Netanyahu and his ministers to stop whining and take responsibility for him,” he declared.

For the former prime minister, Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu’s speech was “low-level, shameful” and he rejected the fact that the territorial waters demarcation agreement signed with Lebanon harms Israel’s deterrence capacity. “The deal was with Lebanon, not Hezbollah, and what he is doing now has nothing to do with the deal,” he has argued.

For his part, the leader of the National Unity party, Benny Gantz, has reproached Netanyahu that you cannot “build leadership with tears”, while the leader of the Yisrael Beitenu party, Avigdor Liberman, has pointed out that Netanyahu’s speech “demonstrates He’s not right for the job.”

Liberman has further noted that “at best Netanyahu has become Yair Netanyahu’s contractor”, referring to comments about Netanyahu’s son’s growing influence on his father. Therefore, he has asked the Likud to remove the prime minister from his position. Netanyahu himself has referred to his son in his speech and has assured that he is “an independent person” with “zero influence” from others.