Thread by @OrenCNN

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s comments on Wednesday were incredibly significant and worth looking at closely.

A thread…

First, he stands firmly by the United States…

“Our ties with the United States are vital, strong, and steady.”

He acknowledges “disagreements,” but emphasizes...

“The United States was the first to stand by us … and the U.S. continues to stand by us now.”

“We solve our disagreements behind closed doors, not via interviews or tweets.”

This is as close as you’ll see to an open criticism of PM Netanyahu from within the government.

Netanyahu has gone very public in his spat with Pres Biden.

Second, Gallant says Hamas can no longer threaten Israel.

“Hamas no longer functions as a military organization-
most of its battalions have been dismantled, and it has turned to terrorist warfare.”

But the strongest comments are when he talks about who is to govern Gaza and what the “day after” looks like.

“We must dismantle Hamas’ governing capabilities in Gaza. The key to this goal is military action, and the establishment of a governing alternative in Gaza.”

Without a real plan, he says there are two options:

“Hamas rule in Gaza or Israeli military rule in Gaza.”

Both of these are unacceptable, he says. In October, he says the defense establishment was working on a plan for a “local, non-hostile Palestinian governing alternative.”

And here’s the big line —

“Since October, I have been raising this issue consistently in the Cabinet, and have received no response.”

“Unfortunately, this issue was not raised for debate and worse, an alternative was not raised in its replacement.”

This is in direct opposition to what Netanyahu said Wednesday.

First, Netanyahu dismisses talk of planning for what’s next.

“All the talk about 'the day after', while Hamas stays remains intact, will remain mere words devoid of content."

In the next line, he also says he’s been working on this “for months.”

“Contrary to what is being claimed, for months we have been engaged in various efforts to resolve this complex problem.”

Gallant calls Israeli governance in Gaza - military or civilian - a “negative and dangerous option” for Israel.

This comes as other far-right members of his government call for resettling Gaza.

And here Gallant says it bluntly:

“I must reiterate - I will not agree to the establishment of Israeli military rule in Gaza. Israel must not establish civilian rule in Gaza.”

“I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ... declare that Israel will not establish civilian control over the Gaza strip, that Israel will not establish military governance in the Gaza strip, and that a governing alternative to Hamas ... will be raised immediately.”

Far-right members of the government have already called for him to be fired.

Will Netanyahu fire him?

This kind of criticism would have gotten others fired in the past. But Gallant has stuck his neck out before.

In March ’23, he was the first to call to stop the judicial overhaul as the country experienced widespread protests. (Several others soon joined him.)

Gallant said the legislation had to stop “for the sake of our sons and daughters.”

Netanyahu said he was going to fire Gallant… then didn’t.

At the time, Gallant's (attempted) firing led to protests in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

But has Gallant gone too far for Netanyahu now? I hate to give a cliche answer, but we shall see!