Protests Explode In Tel Aviv After Netanyahu Fires Defense Minister Gallant

Update(1508ET): Israeli hardline minister Ben Gvir has hailed Netanyahu’s firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, saying the prime minister “did well to remove” him. But protests have exploded in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, including a growing demonstration outside Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea.

A FOX correspondent on the ground has shown they are already huge in the late nighttime hours, and growing…

Tel Aviv right now. pic.twitter.com/TzgnwSydvm

— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) November 5, 2024

A White House statement issued very quickly on the heels of the news, which pushed oil down, said: 

GALLANT HAS BEEN IMPORTANT PARTNER ON ISRAEL’S DEFENSE, U.S. WILL CONTINUE WORKING COLLABORATIVELY WITH ISRAEL’S NEXT DEFENSE MINISTER

“A White House National Security Council spokesperson hails outgoing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and says the Biden administration will continue to collaborate with his successor but avoids directly criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire him in the first White House reaction to the move,” Times of Israel writes.

“Minister Gallant has been an important partner on all matters related to the defense of Israel. As close partners, we will continue to work collaboratively with Israel’s next minister of defense,” the NSC spokesperson said.

The timing is curious, considering the US election:

Moments ago, another US official told The Times of Israel that Netanyahu’s decision to fire Gallant on the day of the US presidential election indicated that the premier sought to avoid pushback from Washington over the controversial decision to ax his defense minister in the middle of a war.

* * *

After hitting a session high just around noon, oil has since quite paradoxically tumbled to session lows following news that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, at a time when the country continues to fight wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and is increasingly in direct confrontation with Iran. And yes, for those saying oil should be surging on the news, you are not wrong, but today little makes sense.

“In the past months, trust has been cracked between myself and the defense minister,” Netanyahu said Tuesday in a statement released by his office.

The termination came after months of public disagreement between the two over the course of the war. Netanyahu said he was firing Gallant due to a breakdown in trust and gaps in positions between them. Gallant had publicly challenged Netanyahu’s failure to decide on a plan for Gaza’s long-term governance and for not prioritizing a deal to release Israeli and other hostages held in Gaza.

Netanyahu said longstanding disagreements between them over the conduct of the conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah had become impossible to bridge. The clashes “were accompanied by statements and actions that contradicted the decisions of the government and the security cabinet,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office late Tuesday.

In his own statement, Gallant said “the security of the State of Israel always was, and will always remain my life’s mission.”

Foreign Minister Israel Katz was named as the new defense minister.

Gallant and Netanyahu are both members of Israel’s conservative Likud party but relations between them have been poor for months, with the men barely on speaking terms. Gallant has been pushing for a hostage release in exchange for a cease-fire in Gaza, while the prime minister has argued that Israel must remain in the Palestinian territory to fully defeat Hamas.  Additionally, Gallant has criticized the prime minister in meetings, parliamentary appearances and even news conferences.

Netanyahu’s political allies publicly made the case for firing Gallant in September, but the defense minister survived as Israel embarked on an aggressive new campaign in Lebanon that wiped out militant group Hezbollah’s top leadership and much of its armaments.

Ousting Gallant could have wide-ranging impacts on Israel’s multifront war and U.S. efforts to end it. He has been the anchor of the relationship with the U.S. and the most vocal advocate of the Biden administration’s efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza. Tension between the U.S. administration and Netanyahu has grown in recent months over the prime minister’s hard-line position in the talks and for a series of provocative military actions undertaken without much notice to the U.S.

Gallant has been a shock absorber in the relationship, speaking more than 70 times with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin by phone and several more times in person over the duration of the war, Pentagon announcements show.

In light of the above, it is strange to see oil tumbling as Gallant had always pushed for a more peaceful resolution while Bibi was the warhawk. Yet just because some oil algos decided to dump oil at the highs, and others immediately jumped on the momentum, Gallant’s termination is somehow viewed as an outcome favorable for oil prices when in reality it’s just the opposite.

Furthermore, the already fragile situation in Israel is on the verge of snapping with protests observed around Tel Aviv following news of the sacking.

Protests into the firing of Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant have begun in Tel Aviv, with Demonstrators currently blocking the Shalom Interchange. pic.twitter.com/l9Zl0izPlq

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 5, 2024

That said, today’s is the last day when the Biden Department of Oil Selling will have to slam oil; one the results of today’s election are in, oil will finally be allowed to trade higher once more.