Gallant’s Pink Slip Will Have to Wait  

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There’s never been such a stark contrast between sacred and profane, politics and defense. For an entire day, the media was abuzz with reports of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s impending dismissal and replacement by Gideon Saar.

The Israeli media gossiped and speculated feverishly about the notes being passed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during security deliberations, with the prevailing assumption being that he was receiving constant updates from the talks with Saar. Only in retrospect did it become clear that Netanyahu was actually fully immersed in an operation to maim and kill thousands of Hezbollah members. According to foreign media reports, those pushing the plan were the head of the Mossad and the prime minister, in the face of skepticism from other heads of the security establishment.

The pasuk from Shiras Hayam, “Tipol aleihem eimasah va’fachad [May fear and terror befall them]” has never been so topical. The operation, which seems like something straight out of sci-fi, only gets more astonishing when you remember the state of the Israeli intelligence community just one year ago. “When they fall, they fall to the abyss; when they rise, they rise to the Heavens,” Chazal said of Am Yisrael, in a phrase that perfectly describes the Israeli intelligence apparatus.

Netanyahu wasn’t going to proceed with the plan to fire Gallant at such a sensitive moment, but their relationship hasn’t changed one bit, and the petty politics is here to stay. Until further notice, the talks between Netanyahu and Saar in the days before the exploding pagers operation should be taken with a grain of salt, as either a concrete plan whose implementation will have to be delayed to a quieter time, or as mere political scheming that will never actually bear fruit.