Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday night, changing him with Israel Katz, a 69-year-old fellow Likud member who has been overseas affairs minister since 2019.
Katz is seen as a Netanyahu ally who might be extra subservient, in contrast to Gallant whose relationship with the longtime chief grew to become more and more adversarial because the wars in Gaza and Lebanon carried on.
“We’ll work collectively to steer the defence institution to victory over our enemies and to attain the targets of the struggle: the return of all hostages as crucial ethical mission, the destruction of Hamas in Gaza, the defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the containment of Iranian aggression, and the protected return of the residents of the north and south to their properties,” Katz mentioned in an announcement after his appointment.
After Donald Trump’s presidential election win introduced on Wednesday, Katz posted on social media that collectively, america and Israel will “strengthen the US-Israel alliance, carry again the hostages, and stand agency to defeat the axis of evil led by Iran”.
Who’s Katz?
A hardline Israeli politician, Katz is a longtime ally of Netanyahu. He has held varied ministerial portfolios since 2003, together with agriculture, transportation, intelligence, power, finance and twice, overseas affairs.
Katz was born in 1955 within the metropolis of Ashkelon, a metropolis constructed not removed from the Palestinian village Majdal which was depopulated within the 1948 Nakba.
Katz joined the navy in 1973 the place he served as a paratrooper for 4 years. After his discharge, he studied on the Hebrew College of Jerusalem.
He unsuccessfully ran for a seat in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, in 1992 and once more in 1996. In 1998, he lastly received a seat and has since served on a number of committees.
In 2007, Israeli police steered he be tried for fraud and breach of belief for political appointments whereas he was agriculture minister. The investigation was closed by the then-attorney normal.
A few of his choices in authorities have been deemed useful to Israel’s hyper-conservative Orthodox group and the nation’s far-right settlers. He’s largely seen as a determine who might be subservient to Netanyahu’s imaginative and prescient for the nation and the broader area, which analysts say might embody additional displacement and ethnic cleaning in Gaza and the West Financial institution and the depopulation of southern Lebanon.
Not like Gallant, Katz is a comparatively peripheral determine in United States-Israeli relations.
Gallant had come to be relied on by the Biden administration as a voice of cause who was targeted on returning the Israeli captives in Gaza and ending the struggle.
Katz, in distinction, has repeatedly clashed with the United Nations. He was one of many architects behind Israel’s push to get the worldwide group to defund the UNRWA, which the Knesset banned from working in East Jerusalem final month.
In October, he introduced that UN Secretary Common Antonio Guterres was unwelcome in Israel. He tweeted a photoshopped picture of Guterres kneeling in entrance of the Supreme Chief of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameini.
5 אזרחים נרצחו הבוקר מירי ישיר של החיזבאללה לעבר המושבה הישראלית מטולה, בהם חקלאי ישראלי ו-4 עובדים זרים. אני שולח את תנחומיי למשפחות.
מזכ”ל האו”ם גוטרש @antonioguterres לא טרח לגנות את החיזבאללה ולקרוא לנקיטת סנקציות נגדו. הוא עסוק רק בלתקוף את ישראל ולהתרפס בפני ארגוני הטרור… pic.twitter.com/SNHA2UkjzF
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) October 31, 2024
What about Palestine?
Katz is seen as antagonistic to Palestinians basically and the Palestinian Authority (PA), specifically.
Way back to 2011, he known as for reducing off relations with the PA. Extra just lately, he promised to “break and dissolve” the PA if the UN moved forwards with resolutions in opposition to Israel.
In August, he known as for the eviction of Palestinians from the occupied West Financial institution.
“We have to handle the [terror] menace precisely as we cope with terror infrastructure in Gaza, together with the momentary evacuation of Palestinian civilians and some other step wanted,” he mentioned on the time.
He has beforehand used the specter of one other Nakba in opposition to the Palestinians as effectively.
In 2022, addressing the Knesset, Katz mentioned, “Yesterday I warned the Arab college students, who’re flying Palestine flags at universities: Bear in mind 48. Bear in mind our independence struggle and your Nakba, don’t stretch the rope an excessive amount of. […] When you don’t relax, we’ll educate you a lesson that received’t be forgotten.”