In reversal, netanyahu says he's keeping gallant as israel's defense minister

* It also comes after recent polling that suggested that Netanyahu's decision to get rid of Gallant was significantly hurting him politically. WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: “Minister

Gallant and I are working together on countering the security challenges. We had tough differences but I decided to put our differences behind us," Netanyahu said at a press conference

on Monday. * Shortly after Gallant tweeted a photo of himself with Netanyahu and wrote: "We are moving full speed ahead - for Israel's security." CATCH UP QUICK: Gallant gave

a televised speech two weeks ago and called for the immediate suspension of Netanyahu's judicial overhaul legislation, saying it had "created an internal rift that poses a clear

and immediate threat for Israel's national security." * A day later, Netanyahu announced he had decided to fire Gallant, saying he lost confidence in him as defense minister. *

Shortly after Netanyahu sacked Gallant, protests erupted in several cities across the country with hundreds of thousands of Israeli taking to the streets. * At the same time, the Biden

administration put pressure on Netanyahu to suspend the legislation and reverse his decision to fire Gallant. President Biden even sent Netanyahu a personal private message about it. * The

next day, Netanyahu announced he was suspending the judicial overhaul legislation to give a chance for a dialogue with the opposition. THE BIG PICTURE: Over the last two weeks, Gallant’s

warning at least partially materialized when escalating tensions around Jerusalem's Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif, led to rocket fire from Gaza, an unprecedented rocket

attack launched from Lebanon and a separate rocket attack from Syria. * Netanyahu was criticized harshly for the security deterioration and for the fact that he didn’t walk back Gallant’s

sacking. Several polls showed that close to 70% of the Israeli public and 60% of Likud voters object to Gallant’s firing. * Netanyahu, his Likud party and his government in recent days

continued to take a hit in the polls, which showed that if elections were held today, the coalition would lose more than 10 seats and the opposition would be able to form a government. * A

Channel 13 poll published on Sunday, showed that only 21% of Israelis think that Netanyahu’s performance as prime minister is good. About 70% said it is not good. According to that poll,

Likud would only win 20 seats – 12 less than it has today. * In his press conference Monday, Netanyahu blamed the previous government and the opposition of being responsible for the recent

security crisis — an accusation the opposition immediately rejected.