GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 398

Gallant Unloads

Told You So

When news of former Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was fired I said he would be cordial initially but he would start to strongly criticize Netanyahu and as we see in a report from The Times Of Israel:

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant reportedly told families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel’s military has no reason to remain in the Strip, and that Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu is keeping soldiers in Gaza “out of a desire to stay there.”

Even at the start of this report we see how big the divide was between the PM and Gallant, who knew the writing was on the wall as he said these things:

The conversation came hours before his firing went into effect Thursday evening and the Knesset voted to approve the appointment of Israel Katz as the new defense chief.

Gallant tried to sound like the sane one in government and make Netanyahu seem unreasonable:

According to a report on Channel 12, Gallant, who was abruptly ousted from his post, told the families that Netanyahu is the only one who can decide whether or not to agree on a hostage deal, and that he “tried and failed” to influence the premier on the matter.

“The head of the Shin Bet, the chief of staff and I think the head of the Mossad also agreed with me,” Gallant said, explaining that he told Netanyahu that “the conditions were ripe” for a deal in July, and that he and the prime minister have been in conflict about the parameters for a proposal ever since.

On every decision Gallant seems to say that the PM was working alone and ignoring the military’s advice:

The ousted defense chief said that he and IDF head Herzi Halevi were both skeptical of claims that there were security or diplomatic justifications for leaving troops in the Strip.

“I can tell you what there was not, security considerations. The IDF chief and I said there was no security reason for remaining in the Philadelphi Corridor,” he reportedly said, referring to a strip of land in Gaza on the border with Egypt, which Netanyahu has championed as one of the key strategic gains of the war.

“Netanyahu said that it was a diplomatic consideration, I’m telling you there was no diplomatic consideration,” he added, according to the report, which is seemingly based on accounts from families who attended the meeting.

According to Gallant the war against Hamas is over and there is no need to occupy the area:

“There’s nothing left in Gaza to do. The major achievements have been achieved,” he’s quoted saying. “I fear we are staying there just because there is a desire to stay there,” apparently referring to far-right calls to occupy the Strip and create Israeli settlements.

He also said the idea that Israel must remain in Gaza to create stability was “an inappropriate idea to risk soldiers’ lives over.”

Even More Disagreements

The article continues to detail how far apart Netanyahu and Gallant were on just about everything and actually solidifies why Gallant was let go. Gallant said this concerning the “day after” plans in Gaza:

As for the “day after” the war, Gallant explained to the hostages’ families that he believes that “it would be bad for Israel to rule Gaza,” and that Israel has to establish a governing body “that is neither Hamas nor Israel, because otherwise we will pay a heavy price.”

“If this doesn’t happen,” he said, “the process will continue” and will endanger more soldiers by occupying Gaza.

The comments are the starkest yet highlighting differences between Gallant, who backed a ceasefire deal to bring hostages home.

As we’ve been saying, the US really liked Gallant because he agreed with their view on just about everything, but that, too irritated Netanyahu and rightly so. We read that Gallant made sure to compliment all of his US buddies sounding more like he was the PM:

As his dismissal took effect, Gallant posted a farewell message, saying that he had spoken to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to thank him “for his partnership and deep commitment to the defense cooperation between our countries, and to the security of the State of Israel.”

He praised Washington for its “extraordinary support” following the October 7, 2023 attack.

“It has been my honor and privilege to serve my country and to work together in further deepening the bond between our nations. Our ties are critical to the security and prosperity of the State of Israel and the Jewish people,” he wrote on X.

To be sure, keeping a good relationship with America is a smart thing to do, but Gallant took public stances that were strongly the opposite of Netanyahu’s and was seen as the guy the US wanted to work with over the PM:

Gallant was seen as the main conduit for discussions between the Biden administration and Israel amid frequent tensions with Netanyahu.

The lame duck US administration is not happy at all, but they really have no leverage to fight back since Donald Trump won the election:

They (the US) also expressed concern that coordination over the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and countering an expected Iranian attack could be hampered by the decision to dismiss Gallant.

“We still have a lot of things to do in the next two months. We don’t have a relationship with Katz, and we are concerned it is going to be much more difficult now,” a Biden administration official told Axios.

Consider that yet another slap in the face of Prime Minister Netanyahu as they mourn the loss of the one guy they felt they could do what they wanted in the war. But the PM will have the last laugh as the Biden administration gets less and less powerful and influential now that the PM finally has his guy in charge.

Trump Wants War To End

We all heard President-elect Donald Trump say he wants to end wars, not start them and we learn from an article from the Jerusalem News Syndicate how he intends for the war In Israel to end:

President-elect Donald Trump wants Israel to wrap up its wars against Iran and its regional terror proxies with a “decisive victory,” campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Pipko told Channel 12 News on Wednesday.

Pipko added more details:

“I would say he expects them to end it by winning it, one hundred percent; that’s how he always talks about ending wars,” the Jewish Republican Party spokesperson told the Israeli news broadcaster.

“Donald Trump always says he wants less innocent people to die—that is his stance whether we’re talking about the war in Gaza, whether we’re talking about Russia in Ukraine or anywhere else,” she added. “So, I do believe he wants the war to end as soon as possible, like all rational people do, but he wants it to end with a decisive victory.”

The clarification came after Trump in his victory speech on Wednesday declared that he was “not going to start wars, I’m going to stop wars.”

She said what we all were thinking all along:

The spokeswoman contended that Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, slaughter of 1,200 people in Israel would not have taken place on Trump’s watch. “I also believe the response on October 8, had it happened, would have been very, very different,” Pipko charged.

She also claimed that the Biden administration’s Israel policies were partly responsible for the length of the ongoing wars, describing them as a “back and forth.”

Pipko also noted what was driving those stances from the US:

“I think when you have American hostages—people forget to say that, American hostages—held for nearly a year, and you see your leaders deciding on their moves for foreign policy based on what would help them win an election, you end up with a lot of unnecessary bloodshed on your hands, and that’s what we’ve seen this last year,” the spokeswoman said.

“When it comes to ending a war in the Middle East and dealing with enemies like Iran or Hamas, you have to be decisive, and I have not seen that from our [current] leadership,” she concluded.

She didn’t go as far as saying Trump will let Israel take on Iran with his blessings, but he did say so a month ago:

Pipko declined to comment on whether Trump would give Jerusalem the green light to attack Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, adding that the president-elect would only express his views on the topic after entering the White House on Jan. 20, 2025.

In October, Trump said he believed Israel should strike Tehran’s nuclear facilities in response to the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile barrages.

Trump did say Israel needs to end the war soon, too:

“You have to finish up your war. To finish it up. You gotta get it done. And I am sure you will do that,” he said. “And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on. And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support, you have to finish up, you have to get the job done. And you have to get on to peace, to get on to a normal life for Israel, and for everybody else,” he added.