The former Israeli defense minister in charge of the first year of the war in Gaza is set to speak at Morganroth Center this Sunday.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: October 10, 2025
Host: As Israel’s minister of defense from 2023 to 24, Yoav Gallant was in charge of the first phase of the war in Gaza, a war that has cost tens of thousands of civilian lives and that is generally equated with genocide. He will be in Sarasota this Sunday, and that is prompting backlash.
Yoav Gallant
Yoav Gallant: There are certain things that must be said, and if you need to gain the support and the belief of the people who are going to follow your orders and follow you, you need to do it in a frank way and in a way that represents something that they can identify with.
Johannes Werner: That is Yoav Gallant, explaining on Dan Senor’s Call Me Back podcast why he demanded the Netanyahu administration investigate Israel’s intelligence failures leading up to the Hamas attack on October 7.
The government of Iran has reportedly put a prize on Gallant’s head, which makes providing security for the event a challenge. And he comes to Sarasota with baggage: an arrest warrant issued by the International Court of Justice. The court in The Hague wants Gallant for “the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
Destruction caused by Israeli bombing of Jabalia camp in the Gaza strip. Photo by Hussein Jaber via Wikimedia Commons
The court issued arrest warrants not only for Gallant but for Netanyahu and Hamas commander Mohammed Deif as well.
Gallant is hosted by the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee. His talk on Sunday is the main act of the group’s commemoration of the massacre committed by Hamas two years ago.
The Federation charges 50 dollars per ticket, but it’s not a fundraiser. Most of the proceeds are going towards defraying the cost of providing security, which is generally high even without high-profile visitors due to fast-rising attacks against Jewish institutions in the United States. Just 10 days ago, the Chabad Jewish Center in Punta Gorda was firebombed.
Shep Englander is the CEO of the local Federation. Why did they pick Gallant of all people to commemorate the massacre?
Shep Englander
Shep Englander: He was the defense minister who woke up to an unthinkable horror, and all responsibility was on him to protect his compatriots and the civilians who are still being murdered and tortured and taken hostage.
JW: And what about the alleged war crimes and pending arrest warrant? The tens of thousands of civilian deaths?
SE: We’re very happy to bring someone who advocated for the comprehensive approach to a ceasefire for a hostage deal that has now been signed. He saw that opportunity a year ago and publicly argued for it—although it was opposed by the Prime Minister at the time—and felt so strongly about it that he resigned his position so that he could advocate for it, and here we are today with just such an approach finally coming to pass.
JW: At least one local group is calling on Sarasotans to join a protest against Gallant. A Better World is Possible, which has hosted rallies in Sarasota against the war for the last two years, will be holding a protest outside the venue on McIntosh Road.
And then there’s Melissa Morsli. The longtime Sarasota resident became involved with Palestine and Palestinians years ago when New College hosted a program called Daughters for Life, bringing students from Israel and neighboring countries to the Sarasota campus. Morsli had an op-ed published Friday by the Herald Tribune, saying Sarasota should not welcome Gallant. Even so, she bought a ticket and will be inside to listen to Gallant.
Melissa Morsli
Melissa Morsli: As soon as I saw that he was coming, I purchased a ticket because I believe that the antidote to controversial speech is more speech.
JW: But her feelings about Gallant’s visit are strong. She believes Sarasota is a community that cares for children. And if people were informed about the killing of children in Gaza, that care would extend to Palestinian children.
MM: His arrival here, being an accused war criminal with an outstanding arrest warrant for a genocide—I find that to be in direct opposition of who I believe our community is and is about.
JW: Gallant’s visit comes as Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and peace negotiations are underway. Here’s the reaction by the Federation’s Shep Englander:
SE: We’re on radio, so people can’t see this, but I’ve been wearing this dog tag since October 7 every day because families I know and have met—actually, two families that live in Sarasota—had family members taken hostage on that day. I don’t go an hour without thinking about them toiling in dark tunnels and what the lives of their family members must be like. And so I look forward, on Monday, to taking off this dog tag for the first time in two years.
Childhood in Gaza. Photo: Eman Mohammed via UNESCO
JW: Melissa Morsli is hopeful but wants the world to see the bigger picture of what is causing Palestinian despair. Floridians, she says, should know about the Naqba, the eviction of Palestinians from their land after World War 2, and about the long history of occupation.
MM: I’m hopeful, but I’m not in the streets cheering. I don’t trust that it’s going to be the end of the occupation. The reason October 7 happened was because of the occupation. Nobody who understands the occupation would want anyone to live under occupation. It’s horrific. For decades, Palestinians in occupied Palestine have been living under this brutal, violent occupation. And if it’s not brutal and violent, it’s incredibly dehumanizing and disruptive to life.
JW: Reporting for WSLR News, Johannes Werner.
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