Massive protests in Israel after Netanyahu fires defense minister for urging halt to judicial overhaul
Protesters in Tel Aviv blocked a major highway and lit a large fire as police clashed with protesters who gathered outside Netanyahu’s private home in Jerusalem.
the months-long crisis over Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary, which has sparked mass protests, unsettled business leaders and former security chiefs and alarmed the United States and other close allies.
Netanyahu’s dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the prime minister and his allies will press ahead with the overhaul plan this week. Gallant was the first senior member of the ruling Likud party to speak out against it, saying deep divisions threatened to weaken the military.
In a brief statement late Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister had fired Gallant. Netanyahu later tweeted: “We must all stand strongly against rejection.
After Netanyahu’s announcement, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in protest, blocking Tel Aviv’s main artery, turning the Ayalon highway into a sea of blue and white Israeli flags and lighting a large bonfire in the middle of the road.
Demonstrations took place in Beersheba, Haifa, and Jerusalem, where thousands gathered outside Netanyahu’s private residence. Police clashed with protesters and sprayed the crowd with water cannons.
Inon Aizik, 27, said he had come to demonstrate outside Netanyahu’s private residence in central Jerusalem because “bad things are happening in this country,” calling the judicial overhaul a “quick legislative attack.”
Netanyahu’s decision came less than a day after Gallant, a former senior general, called for the controversial legislation to be suspended until after the Independence Day holiday next month, citing unrest in the army.
Gallant expressed concern that division in society is damaging morale in the military and emboldening Israel’s enemies. “I see the source of our power being eroded,” Gallant said.
While several other Likud members indicated they might follow Gallant, the party quickly closed ranks on Sunday, clearing the way for his recall.
Galit Distal Atbaryan, Netanyahu’s minister of public diplomacy, said that Netanyahu called Gallant into his office and told him “that he no longer believes in him and that is why he is being fired.”
Gallant tweeted shortly after the announcement that “the security of the State of Israel has always been and will always remain my mission in life.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Gallant’s dismissal “damages national security and ignores the warnings of all defense officials”.
Avi Dichter, the former head of the Shin Bet security agency, is expected to replace him. Dichter reportedly flirted with joining Gallant, but instead announced his support for the prime minister on Sunday.
Netanyahu’s government is pushing for a parliamentary vote this week on the centerpiece of the overhaul — a law that would give the ruling coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. It is also seeking legislation that would give parliament the power to override Supreme Court decisions by a simple majority and limit judicial review of laws.
Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore the balance between judicial and executive power and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.
But critics say the constellation of laws will remove checks and balances on Israel’s democratic system and concentrate power in the hands of the ruling coalition. They also say that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, has a conflict of interest.
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets over the past three months to demonstrate against the plan in the biggest demonstrations in the country’s 75-year history.
Leaders of Israel’s vibrant high-tech industry said the changes would scare off investors, former top security officials spoke out against the plan and key allies, including the United States and Germany, expressed concern.
In recent weeks, discontent has even grown within the Israeli military — the most popular and respected institution among Israel’s Jewish majority. A growing number of Israeli reservists, including fighter pilots, have threatened to leave voluntary service in recent weeks.
Israel’s military faces an increase in fighting in the occupied West Bank, threats from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and fears that arch-enemy Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapons capability.
Violence in both Israel and the occupied West Bank has escalated over the past few weeks to levels not seen in years.
Manuel Trajtenberg, head of the influential Israeli think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies, said that “Netanyahu can fire his defense minister, he cannot reject the warnings he heard from Gallant”.
Meanwhile, an Israeli good governance group asked the country’s Supreme Court on Sunday to punish Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict-of-interest agreement that would prevent him from dealing with the country’s judiciary while on trial for corruption.
The Movement for Good Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of the overhaul, asked the court to compel Netanyahu to comply with the law and punish him with either a fine or prison for failing to do so. He said he was not above the law.
“A prime minister who disobeys the court and the provisions of the law is privileged and an anarchist,” said Eliad Shraga, the group’s head, echoing language used by Netanyahu and his allies against protesters who oppose the overhaul. “The prime minister will be forced to bow his head before the law and abide by the provisions of the law.”
The prime minister responded that the appeal should be dismissed and said the Supreme Court had no reason to intervene.
Netanyahu is barred by the country’s top prosecutor from directly addressing his government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary under a conflict-of-interest agreement he is bound by, which the Supreme Court recognized in a ruling on Netanyahu’s eligibility to serve during the trial. corruption. Instead, the overhaul is headed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidant of Netanyahu.
But on Thursday, after parliament passed a law making it harder to remove a sitting prime minister, Netanyahu said he was not bound by the attorney general’s decision and vowed to wade into the crisis and “mend the rift” in the country. The statement prompted Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to warn that Netanyahu was violating his conflict of interest agreement.
