Israeli PM changes his mind about firing the defense minister

Reuters, JERUSALEM, 10 APRIL - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reversed a decision to remove Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that sparked demonstrations and international concern by announcing on Monday (Apr. 10) that he would keep Gallant in his position due to a growing security situation.

He said that they had come to an understanding over Gallant's last month public appeal for the government's hotly disputed judicial overhaul plan, which Gallant claimed had become a security danger to Israel.

Netanyahu said he would postpone the dismissal last week.

Netanyahu declared at a news conference on Monday, "I've chosen to put our problems behind us. He said that throughout the previous two weeks, the two had collaborated closely.

Hours after two Israeli girls and their mother were killed in a gun incident in the occupied West Bank, an Italian tourist was killed and five other people were injured in a vehicle ramming in Tel Aviv on Friday.

After a night of cross-border assaults in Gaza and Lebanon, this week's attacks added to already-high Israeli-Palestinian tensions caused by Israeli police raids at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa shrine.

When Israel attacked sites in Gaza and southern Lebanon related to the islamist organisation Hamas in response to a barrage of missiles, tensions threatened to worsen, but fighting subsided on Friday.

According to a survey released on Sunday by Israel's Channel 13 News, if elections were conducted today, Netanyahu's Likud party would lose more than a third of its seats and would be unable to form a majority with his hard-right coalition allies.

According to Netanyahu, the survey doesn't bother him.

The prime minister said that despite appearances to the contrary, ties with the United States were "stronger than ever" and that there was close intelligence and security collaboration between the two nations.

In his most recent term as prime minister, Netanyahu also addressed the problem of not yet receiving an invitation to an official visit at the White House.

Don't worry, there will be a visit, Netanyahu assured.

After weeks of widespread protests, his administration halted legislation on the revamp to allow for compromise talks with the opposition parties.