Throughout his four terms as prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has always been careful to appoint someone considered an authority on defense matters as his defense minister. In his first term in 1996, it was Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Mordechai, fresh out of the army and a new Likud member. Netanyahu fired him on the eve of the 1999 elections and appointed his old friend and defense minister in two previous governments, Moshe Arens.
When Netanyahu returned to power a decade later, he named Ehud Barak as his defense chief. Barak had been Netanyahu’s commander in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit and had served as prime minister, defense minister and military chief of staff, instilling in Netanyahu a sense of confidence as he set about planning to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. Anyone looking at this duo during those years came away with the impression that Netanyahu truly needed Barak and relied on him to manage all aspects of the country’s security.