Minister Amichai Chikli and several Likud Knesset members approached their party member and Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant and urged him to resign.
They opened the letter saying: "At this time, the responsibility of the country's leadership, in general, and the Minister of Defense, in particular, is to instill a spirit of resilience among the nation and bravery among the fighting forces. Unfortunately, in recent times, and even more so in the past days, your statements and actions are achieving the exact opposite."
The MKs who signed the letter alongside Chikli, include Moshe Saada, Amit Halevi, Ariel Kellner and Avihai Boaron. They attacked Galant: "Instead of acting to exact a heavy price from Hamas for the horrific murder of six of our hostages, you are actually asking to raise a white flag and surrender to their demands."
They explained that the "withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor is totally disregarding Israel’s security priorities. We cannot even fathom the thought and it stems from the same short-sightedness that led our security leaders to October 7, where as soon as we lose our grip on the Corridor, rivers of weapons and terrorist operatives will flow into Gaza, Hamas will restore its strength very quickly, the rockets will fire once again and, unlike the tales that you and the heads of the defense system are trying to deceive the public into believing, there is no guarantee that the international political conditions will enable us to return to a normal situation and retake control of the Corridor."
They reminded him: "For years you told how you felt a failure that you, as commander of the Southern Command, were not able to finish the job in Operation Cast Lead, and now, at the moment of truth, you are ready to give up on the absolute defeat of Hamas. You were talking about this defeat at the beginning of the war, calling it 'surrender or death.’”
“Until now, we have avoided calling out to you, because we wanted to reduce tensions, but the events of the last few days have left us no choice. The people of Israel and its soldiers deserve a minister of defense who will lead them to victory, a minister of defense who will make demands and uphold his promises. A minister of defense who does not surrender to terrorists, but subdues them. A minister of defense who knows that the fall of our soldiers must not be in vain, a minister of defense who respects the public that sent him to implement a national security policy, in the spirit of Jabotinsky's Iron Wall," his Likud partners wrote to him.
In conclusion, they wrote: "If you are tired from the journey and are unable to stand firm in the face of those who seek to murder us, we implore you to go and return to your home. Leave the sacred work in the hands of others, who are capable of it and who are worthy of the dedication and sacrifice of our soldiers and the generation of victory, that we have witnessed right before our eyes,."
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