JERUSALEM – Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets of cities across the country Sunday night in a spontaneous outburst of anger after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly fired his defense minister for defying the judicial reform plan. of the Israeli leader.
Protesters in Tel Aviv blocked a main highway and lit large bonfires, while police scuffled with protesters who gathered outside Netanyahu’s private home in Jerusalem.
The unrest deepened a months-long crisis over Netanyahu’s plan to reform the judiciary, sparking mass protests. alarmed business leaders and former security chiefs and raised concerns among the United States and other close allies.
Netanyahu’s removal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the prime minister and his allies will press ahead with the reform plan this week. Gallant had been the first senior member of the ruling Likud party to speak out against it, saying the deep divisions were threatening to weaken the military.
But when crowds of protesters flooded the streets late into the night, Likud ministers began to show a willingness to slam on the brakes. Culture Minister Micky Zohar, a confidant of Netanyahu’s, said the party would support him if he decided to halt judicial reform.
Israeli media said the leaders of Netanyahu’s coalition would meet on Monday morning. Later that day, the grassroots protest movement said it would hold another mass demonstration outside the Knesset, or parliament, in Jerusalem.
In a brief statement, Netanyahu’s office said Sunday night that the prime minister had fired Gallant. Netanyahu later tweeted: «We must all stand firm against refusal.»
Protests block Tel Aviv’s main artery
Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in protest following Netanyahu’s announcement, blocking Tel Aviv’s main artery, turning Ayalon Highway into a sea of blue and white Israeli flags and lighting a huge bonfire in the middle of the road.
Demonstrations took place in Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, where thousands of people gathered outside Netanyahu’s private residence. Police scuffled with protesters and sprayed the crowd with a water cannon. Thousands then marched from the residence to the Knesset.
Inon Aizik, 27, said he came to demonstrate outside Netanyahu’s private residence in central Jerusalem because «bad things are happening in this country.» He called the judicial reform «a quick legislative blitz.»
Netanyahu’s decision came less than a day after Gallant, a former top general, called for a pause on the controversial legislation until after the Independence Day holiday next month, citing turmoil in the military ranks. .
Gallant had expressed concern that divisions in society were damaging military morale and emboldening Israel’s enemies. “I see how the source of our strength is eroding,” Gallant said.
While several other Likud members had indicated they might follow Gallant, the party quickly closed ranks on Sunday, clearing the way for his ouster.
Galit Distal Atbaryan, Netanyahu’s minister of public diplomacy, said Netanyahu summoned Gallant to his office and told him «you no longer have faith in him and therefore you are fired.»
Gallant tweeted shortly after the announcement that «the security of the state of Israel has always been and always will be my life’s mission.»
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Gallant’s removal «harms national security and ignores the warnings of all defense officials.»
Israel’s Consul General in New York resigns
Israel’s Consul General in New York City, Assaf Zamir, has resigned in protest.
Avi Dichter, the former head of the Shin Bet security agency, is expected to replace Gallant. Dichter had reportedly flirted with joining Gallant but instead announced on Sunday that he would back the prime minister.
Netanyahu’s government is pushing for a parliamentary vote this week on a centerpiece of the reform: a law that would give the ruling coalition the final say on all judicial appointments. It also seeks to pass laws that would give parliament the authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit judicial review of laws.
Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore the balance between the judicial and executive branches and curb what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.
But critics say the laws will remove Israel’s system of checks and balances and concentrate power in the hands of the ruling coalition. They also say Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, 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 largest demonstrations in the country’s 75-year history. The State Department dismissed as «completely false» repeated claims by Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, that the US government was funding these protests.
Leaders of Israel’s vibrant high-tech industry have said the changes will scare off investors, former top security officials have spoken out against the plan and key allies including the United States and Germany have expressed concern.
Discontent shakes the Israeli army
Discontent has erupted within the Israeli army, the most popular and respected institution among Israel’s Jewish majority, in recent weeks. A growing number of Israeli reservists, including fighter pilots, have threatened to withdraw from voluntary service if the laws are passed.
Israel’s military is facing increased fighting in the occupied West Bank, threats from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and concerns that arch-enemy Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapons capability.
Manuel Trajtenberg, head of an influential Israeli think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies, said that «Netanyahu can remove his defense minister, he cannot dismiss 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 meant to prevent him from dealing with the country’s judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of reform, has asked the court to compel Netanyahu to obey the law and punish him with a fine or jail term for not doing so. He said that he was not above the law.
The prime minister said the appeal should be dismissed, saying the Supreme Court had no reason to intervene.
The country’s attorney general prohibits Netanyahu from dealing directly with his government’s plan to reform the judiciary, based on a conflict of interest agreement, and which the Supreme Court recognized in a ruling on Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while in office. in trial for corruption. Instead, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close Netanyahu confidant, is spearheading the reform.
But on Thursday, after parliament passed a law making it more difficult to oust a sitting prime minister, Netanyahu said he was not bound by the attorney general’s decision, vowing to wade into the crisis and «repair the gap» in the nation. . That statement led the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, to warn that Netanyahu was breaking his conflict of interest agreement.
Rapid legal and political developments have catapulted Israel into uncharted territory, said Guy Lurie, a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.
“We are at the beginning of a constitutional crisis in the sense that there is a disagreement about the source of authority and legitimacy of the different government bodies,” he said.