Supposed to stay above political affairs, he earlier warned in mid-March that Israel could be heading for “disaster.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday (March 27) called on the government to “immediately” halt legislative work on the country-dividing judicial reform bill. Mr. Herzog made the call on Twitter after thousands of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv overnight from Sunday to Monday after the dismissal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Yoav Gallant, his defense minister, supporter a pause in the judicial reform that the government wants Parliament to pass.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in response to the news, many waving Israeli flags. A crowd gathered in front of the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, at one point managing to break through a security cordon, before the police used water cannons to disperse the protesters. In Tel Aviv, the crowd converged on Kaplan Street in the city center, the epicenter of protests since the presentation, in January, of the reform project which divides the country.
US concerns
The United States said it was “deeply concerned”, and referred to “the urgent need for compromise”. “Democratic values ??have always been, and must remain, a hallmark of the relationship between the United States and Israel,” warned White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson. “Fundamental changes for a democratic system should be carried out with the broadest possible base of popular support,” she stressed.
With this reform, the government, one of the most right-wing in the history of Israel, wants to increase the power of elected officials over that of magistrates. But according to its critics, the project jeopardizes the democratic character of the State of Israel. Mr. Netanyahu and his far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies believe it is necessary to restore a balanced balance of power between elected officials and the Supreme Court, which they consider politicized.
On Saturday, Yoav Gallant, a former commander in the Israeli navy, warned that the justice reform posed a “clear, immediate and tangible threat” to state security, calling for the plan to be suspended. He added in a televised address that he was ready to “pay any price” for the good of the country.
The announcement of his dismissal led to the resignation of Israel’s consul general in New York, Asaf Zamir. The diplomat called on Twitter the dismissal of the minister a “dangerous decision” which “convinced him that [he] could no longer continue to represent this government”.
