Yoav Gallant: One of Israel’s most controversial defense ministers

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Defense Minister Yoav Galant, according to Netanyahu's office. He is replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz. Gallant has been one of the most controversial Israeli defense ministers because of his failures in the Gaza war since October 7, 2023.

Here are Gallant's most significant failures as Israel’s defense minister:

🔸October 7 attack. Gallant had been the minister of defense since December 2022, so Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, came under his responsibility. The Israeli forces were not ready to respond on this quick attack and Hamas was able to take hundreds of Israeli hostages in settlements near the Gaza Strip border. As relatives of the hostages noted, army units were unable to approach the border for at least eight hours. Responsibility for the failure was later admitted by the former head of military intelligence, Aaron Haliva, but Defense Minister Gallant never did.

🔸Humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Carpet air raids of the Gaza Strip, a complete blockade of the enclave in 2023 and heavy raids were also Gallant's responsibility.

🔸Lebanon. Despite bombings of mostly all major cities in Lebanon, as well as bombing of roads with civilians stuck in traffic jams, the Israel Defense Forces have not achieved any military success in Lebanon. Israel does not control a single border settlement in Lebanon, despite several attempts to occupy some of them during ground operations. At the same time, the stated goal of military operations on the northern Israeli border - ensuring security for the Upper Galilee residents and the ability for its residents to return home after evacuation - has not yet been achieved. On the contrary, the shelling of the northern Israel is only increasing.

🔸Lack of response to Iran's attacks. Israel has failed to give a clear response to either of Iran's two large-scale missile attacks on Israeli territory. Israeli media blame Gallant for this. The latest Iranian missile attack on Israel caused serious damage to the IDF's Nevatim air force base, which was hit by at least 10 missiles, according to satellite images and to both Iranian and Western media reports. Israel has not yet officially announced the aftermath of that strike.

🔸'Iron Dome' and Israeli ports. Israel's air defense system has failed to protect the port of Eilat from attacks by Yemeni Houthis. The port's director previously estimated that its operations were currently working at only 3% capacity due to regular attacks. At the same time, with the start of full-scale hostilities in Lebanon, attacks on the Haifa port continue to mount. Haifa is home to Israel's largest commercial port - and if the Defense Ministry fails to properly protect it, Israel will face an economic crisis, among other things.

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Gallant’s firing likely linked to Netanyahu’s desire to relieve ‘pressure’ from the Americans – Israeli politics expert

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was fired on Election Day in the US so his “contacts in the United States could not exert pressure on the Netanyahu government because they're way, way too busy and don't care at this moment,” Dr. Ori Goldberg, an expert on Israeli politics, told Sputnik.

“Gallant like every former Israeli general, certainly one who has risen to the very top of military leadership, has close connections to the Americans. I think that Netanyahu administration is about as far away from Washington as any Israeli government has ever been. Gallant, I think, demanded - because of his opinions and also because of American agendas - that Netanyahu would not surrender to the settler agenda, occupy Gaza and continue the war/genocide,” Goldberg said.

“Netanyahu did not want this pressure. He wanted loyal people and he also wanted to quash and repress any potential resistance within the military that would have been backed by Gallant, because ultimately he is a former general and his loyalty is to his comrades much more than it is to Netanyahu,” the observer explained.

Asked to comment on Gallant’s replacement, Israel Katz, until now the foreign minister, Goldberg said his selection was purely political.

“Katz is [...] completely incompetent regardless of any ministerial position he fulfills, which makes him the best option because he has nothing to offer Netanyahu but loyalty…Katz really has no independent power base like Gallant who has the Americans and military. Katz is completely dependent on Netanyahu's good will,” the political expert noted.

“Netanyahu wants somebody who is a complete ‘yes man’ in the Ministry of Defense, and this is a very good day to do it, because there's nobody in the United States who will devote even a minute's time to this,” Dr. Goldberg concluded.

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❗️Expert on mail-in ballots: Voting machines disappear midday and never show up

Many ways to do US election fraud, especially using “mail-in ballots with no chain of custody,” have been devised, American political analyst Don Debar told Sputnik.

He also recalled some “pretty crude” examples of fraudulent use of the voting machines in elections that he personally witnessed.

“Voting machines have been taken out in the middle of the day and new ones installed in districts where the person who was running as an insurgent might do well. And that machine, for some reason, never shows up again. And the new machine has, of course, half the count that it would have had if they weren't swapped out. Therefore, that candidate who was winning there suddenly doesn't win by enough for them to matter in the overall election,” the pundit said.

In 2020, when Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden, he alleged that the vote was “stolen” from him using mail-in ballots and rigged voting machines.

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Musk deletes post after Google's clarification

Google is working on fixing the glitch that caused search results for “where can I vote for Harris” and “where can I vote for Trump" to differ.

In the results for Harris, a window appeared to help users find a polling station, while for Trump only news articles were displayed and there was no map.

“The ‘where to vote’ panel is triggering for some specific searches (because) Harris is also the name of a county in (Texas). Happens for ‘Vance’ too (because) it’s also the name of a county,” Google wrote on its X page, adding that the company was working on a fix.

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☢️🚀 The US military will conduct a nuclear-capable missile test just hours after polls close on the Election day

An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile is set to launch from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base between 11:01pm and 5:01am PT, the Daily Mail reports.

Military officials said the purpose of the test was to show the 'readiness of nuclear US forces' in response to rising concerns about the potential onset of World War III. The Minuteman III was unveiled in 1970, and it is still being used as a part of the US strategic nuclear force.

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💬Elections are not held in American prisons, as inmates are disenfranchised, but political debates happen just as they do outside, Russian businessman and politician Viktor Bout tells Sputnik.

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Main Goals Release of Hostages, Defeat of Hamas, Hezbollah - New Israeli Defense Minister

Newly-appointed Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that the main goals of the war are the return of all hostages held by Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as well as the defeat of this group and Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"We will work together to march the security system to victory against our enemies and to achieve the goals of the war: the return of all the abductees as the most important value mission, the destruction of Hamas in Gaza, the defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the containment of Iranian aggression and the return of the residents of the north and south to their homes in safety," Katz said on his social media.

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National Guard on standby in multiple states on Election Day

Fifteen states have mobilized National Guard personnel to provide support on election day, with more than 250 troops deployed, CNN reports citing a spokesperson.

The states are Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.

Nearly half are engaged in cybersecurity, while others fulfill local support roles. Additionally, around 85 members are on standby in Colorado, Washington, DC, Florida, and Nevada.

The National Guard is also on alert as a precaution in states like Washington and Oregon, following incidents of ballot drop boxes being set on fire and hundreds of ballots being damaged.

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THROWBACK: Putin calls Trump “not a product of the American establishment”
 
"I believe that the former US President, Mr. Trump, is an outstanding, talented person. Otherwise, he would not have become the President of the United States," Russian President Vladimir Putin said during an interview with NBC in 2021.
 
He added that Trump is “not a product of the American establishment” and he has never been “part of big politics before.”

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WHOOOOPS... Something went wrong?

A video circulating online purportedly shows Kamala Harris in a supposed "conversation" with a voter: mid-discussion, Harris turns and waves, showing her phone with the camera on.

To believe or not to believe — that’s the question.

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Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant identified three reasons for his dismissal

After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed a new defense minister in place of Gallant, the ex military head said he was fired over three issues, the Times of Israel reports.

According to the newspaper, the issues are:

▪️the sharing of the defense burden;
▪️the imperative to bring back the hostages;
▪️the need to learn lessons through a state commission of inquiry into October 7 and the war that followed.

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2024 is election between ‘known quantity’ Trump and an opponent ‘introduced partway through the process’

A lot is riding on the 2024 elections for both parties, but especially for Republicans, with former president and third-time candidate Donald Trump having “a chance to rise if he wins tonight to a significant level of starting another chapter in the conservative Republican book,” says Professor David Woodard, a former consultant to GOP candidates, and author of eight books on conservativism in US politics.

Trump is a known quantity for Americans compared to Vice President Harris, according to the professor, and Republicans’ top desire over the past four decades has been to sweep the elections like Ronald Reagan did in 1984 – something that has never been repeated since.

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