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Today's Paper | May 16, 2026

Published 05 Nov, 2024 11:31pm

Israel Katz replaces Gallant as defence minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Foreign Minister Israel Katz as the country’s new defence minister, while appointing Gideon Saar in Katz’s former position, Al Jazeera reports.

This comes less than 24 hours after Gallant approved the Israeli army’s recommendation to send out 7,000 more draft orders to ultra-Orthodox men.

The issue of drafting ultra-Orthodox men has been a sticking point between Gallant and Netanyahu, whose coalition is dependent on a right-wing bloc.

In a post on X, immediately after news broke out of his ouster, Gallant wrote, “The security of the State of Israel was and will always remain my life’s mission.”

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