EXPLAINER
It is reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu will halt his plans, after weeks of protests and the firing of his defense minister.
The Israeli government is in crisis due to divisions over controversial plans to overhaul the country’s justice system.
Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets again on Sunday night in unprecedented protests that rocked the coastal cities of Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem.
The protests were triggered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday night after he expressed opposition to the prime minister’s proposed changes to the with the judicial system.
The Prime Minister was expected to address the nation on Monday morning but he did not. Israeli media reports say he is expected to pause judicial changes, but members of his far-right ruling coalition are threatening to resign, raising the possibility of a government collapse. pour.
Why are Israelis protesting?
- Massive weekly protests have taken place in Tel Aviv since the start of the year after Mr. Netanyahu announced plans to pass legislative changes that protesters and the opposition say would undermine the democratic system. state ownership and reduce checks and balances.
- Mr. Netanyahu and his supporters say the changes are necessary to rein in a judiciary that wields too much power.
- The proposed changes would limit the Supreme Court’s power to rule against the legislature and executive, giving Israel’s parliament (Knesset) the power to overrule Supreme Court decisions. with a simple majority of 61 votes out of 120.
- The second proposal would take away the Supreme Court’s authority to review the legitimacy of Israel’s Basic Law, which functions as the country’s constitution.
- The reforms will also change the way Supreme Court justices are selected, giving politicians discretion in appointing judges.
What is the response to the firing of the defense minister?
- In the first public dissent from within Netanyahu’s governmentDefense Minister Yoav Gallant announced his opposition to the judicial changes on Saturday in a brief televised statement, saying that “deepening divisions” within Israel on the issue “are seeping into military and defense organizations” and was “a clear, immediate decision and a real danger to Israel’s security”.
- The next day, Netanyahu fired Gallant, sparking massive protests as protesters set fires, blocked highways and breached metal fences set up by police on Sunday night.
- Sunday’s protests marked a major shift, with protesters’ demands moving from a halt to a planned judicial change to some calling for Mr Netanyahu’s removal.
- The country’s main labor union, Histadrut, announced it would go on a general strike and bring the country to a complete shutdown if the Prime Minister does not withdraw his plan.
- “I am calling for a general strike,” Histadrut President Arnon Bar-David said in a televised address. “We have a duty to stop this legislative process and we will do it,” he said, vowing to “keep fighting.”
- On Monday morning, flights out of Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport were halted, according to Israeli media, as airport workers went on strike.
What is the response from the Israeli government?
- Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister appointed as part of the new far-right nationalist religious government that took office in late December, has threatened to leave the ruling coalition if the plan The judicial overhaul was halted.
- “We must not stop judicial reform and must not surrender to anarchy,” Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter.
- Justice Minister Yariv Levin, from Netanyahu’s Likud party, is also said to have threatened to leave the coalition.
- However, two other members of Likud – Ministers Ron Dermer and Yoav Kish, along with ultra-Orthodox Shas Party Chairman Arye Dery, have expressed support for stopping the plans.
- The Religious Zionism Party, one of the major parties in the ruling coalition, released a statement saying it was “duly elected and received a clear mandate from the people to restore balance to the economy.” Israeli democracy”.
- “We are indebted to the majority of the people to make their voices heard and to continue this important historic correction,” the party said on Monday.
- On Monday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on Mr. Netanyahu to stop the plan. “For the unity of the people of Israel, for the responsibility, I urge you to immediately stop the legislative process,” Herzog wrote on Twitter.
