On means to an end – Amos Harel in Haaretz:

‘Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a gamble by firing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday night. He believes he can push this through under cover of the war and U.S. election.’

(…)

‘The decision to oust Gallant at the height of the war raises questions about Netanyahu's fitness to continue serving. It has certainly sharpened the understanding that his personal and political survival is his top priority.’

(…)

‘Gallant was the contact person with the Biden administration. It coordinated all military moves with him and the system under him, due to the great tension in Netanyahu's relationships with the Americans.’

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‘Last week, the case of Eli Feldstein erupted. Feldstein, who is Netanyahu's military spokesman, was arrested by the Shin Bet security service on suspicion of running a network of intelligence personnel who stole top secret information from Military Intelligence, crudely manipulated the material and then sent it to the foreign media for publication – all to remove the pressure on Netanyahu from the hostage families. These suspicions may well spread to other Netanyahu confidants with regard to the use of other material.’

(…)

‘Defense Minister Israel Katz, whom Netanyahu has appointed as Gallant's replacement, is supposed to help him oust Halevi. Bizarrely, though as usual since October 7, 2023, Netanyahu is seeking to replace all the people responsible for the disaster except the most senior and most important of all – himself.
The heads of the security services will now have to decide what to do. Will they restrain themselves over Gallant's ouster? Will they restrain themselves over the ousters that will almost certainly follow it? Yet on the other hand, can they abandon the leaky ship in the middle of a war, when civilians' lives are in danger and soldiers are fighting in Gaza and Lebanon?’

(…)

‘This is a government that is simultaneously engaged in thwarting the conscription of the ultra-Orthodox, thwarting a hostage deal and thwarting the establishment of a commission of inquiry into the failures that led to the Hamas massacre. And the man who heads it is determined to evade responsibility for the biggest disaster in the country's history. In his view, any means to this end is kosher – and especially the continued destruction of our democracy.’

Read the article here.

Netanyahu might offer lessons in how to slowly but steadily kill a democracy. Yes, yes, an imperfect democracy.

We will see if and how democracy will be killed in the US. But unlike Israel the US is an empire, and not at war.

It has been said before, and it has been said by others, but the biggest threat to Israel is the enemy within, Netanyahu is the frontman of this enemy within.

As Harel said: everything is kosher to help him remain out of prison.