The Knesset approved the appointments of Israel Katz to be defense minister and Gideon Sa’ar to be foreign minister in 58-0 votes yesterday. The entirety of the opposition reportedly boycotted the votes but not the debate. According to Times of Israel, the session featured angry speeches and heckling from opposition members, who view Gallant’s dismissal as a cynical move by Netanyahu to enable a law enshrining ultra-Orthodox draft evasion, which Gallant refused to support, and to prevent a hostage-ceasefire deal in the war in Gaza, which Gallant strongly advocated.
After the vote, Katz formally became defense minister in a ceremony at the Defense Ministry. Katz, in a speech, said that he is looking forward to working with the defense establishment and that he will be “the defender of the IDF… and I will harness all my abilities to allow the IDF to deal with the things it needs to deal with, with full force.”
Gallant, in his parting speech, said that he is leaving the role “with great pain over the loss, and for what has not yet been completed, the return of the hostages.”
