Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday a “pause” in the justice reform project which divides the country after a day of intensified protest and the appearance of tensions within the majority.
Two of the main opposition leaders have said they are ready to dialogue with the government, but within the framework of the mediation proposed for several weeks by President Isaac Herzog, while warning the executive against any attempt at deception.
Quickly after Mr. Netanyahu’s speech, the big Histadrut trade union center announced the end of the general strike that it had declared in the morning with the stated objective of stopping the reform.
In civil society, the organizers of the protest, which for weeks has established itself as one of the largest popular mobilization movements that Israel has known, have shown themselves to be much more circumspect, calling for the demonstrations to continue as long as the project is not “totally stopped”.
“It’s not a victory at all, the fight must continue”, summed up in the evening a demonstrator in Tel Aviv, Sharon Hefez, a 59-year-old writer, accusing Mr. Netanyahu of “lies”.
Affirming that he wanted to give “a real chance to a real dialogue”, Mr. Netanyahu announced that he had “decided on a pause” in the legislative process “in order to reach a broad agreement” on the reform at the next parliamentary session before open after Passover (April 5-13).
“If the legislation stops really and completely, we are ready to start a real dialogue at the residence of the president”, reacted the leader of the opposition, Yaïr Lapid (centre), but “we [must] first make sure there is no trickery or bluffing”.
“Better late than never,” said Benny Gantz (center-right), another tenor of the opposition. “We will report immediately to the president’s residence with an outstretched hand,” he added, urging Mr. Netanyahu “to stop the threats” and to send a team to Mr. Herzog.
The latter welcomed the Prime Minister’s decision and called on the two opposing camps to preserve the unity of the country and to renounce all violence.
A strong ally of Israel, Washington, which had repeatedly expressed its concerns about the reform project, welcomed a decision which “gives more time to find a compromise”.
Since the announcement of the reform project in early January, tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated every week to denounce it and shout down the government formed in December by Mr. Netanyahu.
The pace of protests has intensified since mid-March and tension was further heightened on Sunday after the announcement of the dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who had spoken publicly the day before for a “pause” in the reform, expressing fears for Israel’s security in the face of a large movement of reservists refusing to fulfill their military obligations.
Thousands of Israelis then took to the streets in Tel Aviv, which led to clashes with the security forces during the night. After these incidents, Mr. Herzog, who plays an essentially ceremonial role, called on the government on Monday morning to “immediately stop” the examination of the reform in Parliament.
Again on Monday, tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv and around the Parliament building in Jerusalem to protest against the reform. In the evening, a counter-demonstration, the first of its kind, gathered several thousand people near the Supreme Court in Jerusalem.
For the government of Mr. Netanyahu, one of the most right-wing in the history of Israel, the reform aims to rebalance powers by reducing the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, which the executive considers politicized, in favor of Parliament .
The protesters believe, on the contrary, that it risks leading to an illiberal or authoritarian drift.
The last few days have shown tension in the majority. Two lawmakers from Likud, Mr. Netanyahu’s party, criticized the announcement of the dismissal of the defense minister and gave their support to Mr. Gallant.
The party of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right figure who, according to the Israeli press, had threatened to leave the government in the event of a break in the reform, announced the conclusion of an agreement with Mr. Netanyahu linking the suspension of legislative work to the expansion of his portfolio.
Sign of the challenges that still await the country, the physicist Shikhma Bressler, one of the organizers of the protest movement declared on Twitter not to take “at face value any word” from Netanyahu.
“As long as the legislative work [on the reform] is not completely stopped, we will demonstrate in the streets”, assures for his part one of the collectives of the protest, which denounces “a new attempt by Netanyahu to divert the attention of the public to weaken protest before establishing a dictatorship”.
27/03/2023 23:23:28 – Jerusalem (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
