Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Danny Danon, Far Right Wing Deputy Minister, Fired by Benjamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday fired a deputy defense minister after he publicly criticized government decisions during Israel’s week-long battle with Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from right-wing members of his coalition government to broaden the military offensive against the ruling Hamas in Gaza, including calls to send in ground troops.

Danny Danon, a young member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, on Tuesday attacked a decision to accept an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire, saying: “Once again Hamas is setting the tone for this operation. We must retake the initiative and correct the mistake made in this morning’s cabinet meeting.”

Hamas did not accept the ceasefire terms, and the fighting has continued.

Officials said Danon had long been sidelined by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. He had been given his position in what political analysts said was a bid to mollify party rivals.

In May, after Danon wrote an article critical of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Israel’s ambassador to Washington took the unusual step of putting out a statement saying Danon’s views “do not reflect the views of the Government of Israel”.

Netanyahu said he fired Danon because his comments showed a “great degree of irresponsibility” at the height of a military campaign.

“In light of these declarations that express a lack of confidence in the government and its leader, personally … I have decided to remove him from his post,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office.

Following his removal, Danon again criticized Netanyahu, writing on Facebook that the Israeli leader had been taking a weak line diplomatically over the past year.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.