Sources in the Israeli Likud party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the latter intends to push former Defense Minister Yoav Galant to retire from the party and limit the possibility of him running for the Knesset in the upcoming elections.

The sources confirmed to the Walla website that the party has begun monitoring Galant's activities and statements against the government, with the aim of gathering evidence that he is acting independently, in preparation for his dismissal.

According to the sources, since Galant's dismissal at the beginning of this month, the Likud has begun monitoring his activity in the Knesset, tracking his attendance and votes in the plenary session, and documenting his statements opposing government policy, with the aim of gathering evidence proving that he acts independently and is not subject to government decisions and coalition management, which paves the way for submitting a request to the Knesset Committee to declare him a defector from the coalition. If this step succeeds, he will be punished by being prevented from running in the upcoming elections within the Likud or any other party serving in the current Knesset, unless he resigns during the current session.

The sources said that Netanyahu ultimately wants Galant to resign from the Knesset, fearing that he will vote against the coalition in decisive votes.

Normally, in order to declare a MK retired and determine his or her status as a “single MK,” the faction must submit a request to the House Committee, which takes a quasi-judicial step, including requiring the faction to present evidence that the MK acted against the party and coalition, before the MK in question is given the right to defend himself or herself against the charges. If the request is approved, the MK is prohibited from being part of any party in the Knesset, and restrictions are placed on him or her and his or her activities. He or she is also prohibited from joining parties in the Knesset in the next elections, and will only be able to run as part of a new party.

In recent years, the measure has been activated and approved twice: in 2017, against Orly Levy-Abiaksas of Yisrael Beiteinu, and in 2022, against Amichai Chikli of Yamina, after he opposed the formation of a Bennett-Lapid government. But a few months later Chikli resigned from the Knesset, allowing him to run on the Likud list in the November 2022 elections.

Netanyahu dismissed Galant from his position as defense minister and appointed Yisrael Katz in his place, early this month, due to his opposition to the draft exemption law, and at the request of the Haredi factions who saw him as an obstacle to promoting the law.

Galant, who has served as defense minister since the government was formed, was the only MK in the coalition who opposed the judicial reform plan, which led Netanyahu in March 2023 to attempt to dismiss him, before he changed his mind under popular protests. Despite the strained relationship, Netanyahu and Galant fought the Gaza war together for more than a year, but in recent months Netanyahu decided to dismiss him after his position on the draft exemption law, and a series of other conflicts related to the conduct of the war, settlement negotiations, the return of the kidnapped, the formulation of the policy for the day after the war on Gaza, and the demand to form a government commission of inquiry.

Since his dismissal from the defense ministry, Galant has returned to work as a Knesset member, but he is not a member of any committee on behalf of Likud. He has attended some plenary discussions and votes, and has never voted against the coalition so far. Galant and his aides have said since his dismissal that he has no intention of leaving Likud.

Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi during his meeting with soldiers in Jabalia, northern Gaza (archive - Israeli army website)

According to a poll conducted by Channel 12 this week, any party led by Galant would win eight seats, but his supporters do not come from Likud or coalition voters, but from voters of opposition parties on the right and center.

There was no immediate response from Likud or Galant.

Netanyahu's plan against Galant in the Knesset comes despite the fact that they both face an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court on Thursday for war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The International Court said in a statement that it had reasonable grounds to consider Netanyahu and Galant as accomplices in “crimes against humanity; namely the crime of starvation as a weapon... and crimes against humanity such as murder,” and the court confirmed that “Netanyahu and Galant bear criminal responsibility for directing a deliberate attack against civilians.”

Tel Aviv is still considering its position on the court’s decision, and the approach, according to Israeli media, is not to submit a response to the ICC’s decision, and to wait for US President Donald Trump to come to power on January 20. Israel has two options until next Wednesday before deciding whether to respond or not: The first is to inform the court that it will respond, and if it decides to do so, it will have all the time to formulate this response, and the other option is to ignore the court’s decision. The arrest warrants cannot be appealed, but responding may help limit the expansion of the court’s judicial procedures.

The Ynet website said that the trend is not to respond. However, the Hebrew channel Kan expressed concerns on Saturday within the Israeli security establishment about the issuance of secret arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court against Israeli army leaders and senior officers. Kan said that the concerns revolve mainly around the possibility of issuing an arrest warrant against the Chief of Staff of the Army, Herzi Halevi. There is concern in Israel that such warrants have already been issued within the court and kept secret until they are activated at the time decided by the court.

A senior Israeli official said that forming a government investigation committee could have prevented the issuance of international arrest warrants.

According to estimates in Israel, it will be very difficult to reverse the decision on the arrest warrants at this stage, and even the establishment of an official commission of inquiry will not lead to their cancellation. Israel also fears that several countries will take steps to ban the supply of weapons to it, and some countries may resort to implementing this in a covert manner by suspending or delaying licenses for arms transfers.

Kan confirmed that Israel is studying possible steps to be taken against the ICC decision, which are political steps, not legal steps, for example, clarifying that the ICC has no authority, or declaring that Israel has independent investigative and enforcement powers that must be trusted, and it will also rely on the Trump administration to act against the court.