A right-wing, relatively hawkish figure by any other nation's standards, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon has found himself increasingly vilified by the rest of the far-right coalition, which has lashed him for repeated calls for the Israeli military to behave in an ethical manner and not kill indiscriminately.

The defense minister in the last two governments, the right-far-right government of 2013 and the far-right government of 2015, Ya'alon was being shifted elsewhere with the installation of a new, even-farther-right government, and opted to resign today, leaving both the cabinet and the parliament in the process.

On his way out, Ya'alon cautioned that the ethical issues of the new government pose an existential threat to Israel, warning that "extremists" have effectively taken over the government, with the incoming defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, an ultra-right hawk who has publicly called for the beheading of "disloyal" members of Israel's ethnic Arab minority.

Ya'alon's predecessor Ehud Barak, who held the defense portfolio from 2007-2013, echoed his concerns, saying the new Netanyahu-Lieberman government "is exhibiting signs of fascism." He added that Lieberman was "unfit" for the position of defense minister.