JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
While the U.S. was busy voting for a new president yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who is quite popular in Israel. He worked closely with the U.S. amid the wars in Gaza and now Lebanon. The defense minister also butted heads with Netanyahu about the direction Israel should take in those wars. NPR's Daniel Estrin is on the line from Tel Aviv. Hi, Daniel.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.
SUMMERS: So Daniel, if you could, just start by telling us why did Netanyahu sack his defense chief?
ESTRIN: He said he lost trust in Yoav Gallant because of their disagreements about how to handle the wars, which is really just partly the reason. Gallant had indeed been saying that Israel needs to end the war in Gaza and strike a deal with Hamas to free the hostages still in Gaza, a position that earned him a lot of respect in the Israeli public. But Gallant did some other things that really threatened Netanyahu's own political survival. He has been calling for an investigation into who was responsible for the security failure when Hamas attacked on October 7. Netanyahu has been resisting that kind of investigation.
But really the most immediate reason for Gallant being fired was that he tried to draft more ultra-Orthodox Jewish men to the army, which is something that Netanyahu's political partners, who are ultra-Orthodox Jews, were threatening to withdraw their support of the government over. And so Netanyahu fired Gallant, made some political deals to appease the ultra-Orthodox parties in his government. And he has now ensured that his government can survive.
SUMMERS: Daniel, it seems like there would be some risks in choosing to fire your defense minister in the middle of two active wars in Gaza and Lebanon. How are Israelis taking the news?
ESTRIN: Well, a very popular columnist in Israel said that the country was now no longer a democracy with this move. The opposition leader in Israel, Yair Lapid, said it was an act of madness. He said Netanyahu was selling out Israel's security for his own political survival. And protesters have poured into the streets yesterday and also tonight - they've been blocking major roads - because many Israelis saw Yoav Gallant as a trustworthy leader in the middle of a war, even though, of course, abroad, he was seen very differently.
He and Netanyahu were singled out by the International Criminal Court prosecutor for alleged war crimes in Gaza. But when it came to decision-making on the war, in Israel, Gallant really was a counterbalance to Netanyahu. So now there's a new defense minister, and he's a Netanyahu loyalist, Israel Katz. So now Netanyahu has consolidated his influence on where the wars go.
SUMMERS: And, Daniel, as we nodded to, there will soon be another Trump administration. How does this move square with that development here in the U.S.?
ESTRIN: An Israeli official told me that Netanyahu actually chose U.S. Election Day to fire Gallant, when U.S. officials were preoccupied. And the Biden administration did work closely with Gallant and even liked him. I think what's even more important than Gallant being fired is that Trump has been elected. The Biden administration is now going to struggle to influence or to pressure Israel on the things that matter to it like getting more humanitarian aid to Gaza, because whatever Biden does now to pressure Israel, Trump can just reverse when he's president. The Israeli official I spoke to told me that Netanyahu would now likely take steps to end the wars in Gaza and Lebanon as a gesture to Trump.
SUMMERS: NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thank you.
ESTRIN: You're welcome.
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