Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu sacked his defense minister, Yoav Galant, on Sunday March 26. The latter had declared the day before, on television, his opposition to the highly contested judicial reform in progress. He then said he feared that continued divisions among the population on this issue would create a “real threat to the security of Israel”.

The reform, which aims to increase the power of elected officials over that of magistrates, jeopardizes, according to its detractors, the democratic character of the State of Israel. Mr. Netanyahu and his far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies consider it necessary to restore a balanced balance of power between elected officials and the Supreme Court, which they consider politicized.

“The security of Israel has always been and always will be my life’s mission,” the minister tweeted Sunday, in response to his dismissal. “I am committed to the values ??of Likud, but major changes at the national level must be done through consultation and dialogue,” he added.

Resignation of the Israeli consul in New York

Mr. Galant meanwhile called for an end to the protests, as some 200,000 people gathered against the reform in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media estimates. Thousands of people also took to the streets of Jerusalem on Sunday, many waving Israeli flags. A crowd gathered in front of the residence of Binyamin Netanyahu, according to Reuters, managing at one point to cross a security cordon, before the police used water cannons to disperse the protesters.

The demonstrations have followed one another each week since the presentation, in January, by the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, one of the most right-wing in the history of Israel, of the reform project which divides the country.

“Netanyahu can fire Galant, but he can’t fire reality and he can’t fire the people of Israel, who oppose the madness of the coalition,” the opposition leader, the centrist, tweeted. Yair Lapid. “Israel’s prime minister is a threat to Israel’s security,” he wrote.

On Saturday evening, he praised Mr. Galant’s remarks, calling them “a courageous step for the security of Israel”. Two Likud lawmakers also tweeted their support for Galant on Saturday, raising questions about whether the government could count on a majority if it takes a vote.

Israel’s consul in New York also announced his resignation on Sunday in response to the minister’s dismissal. “I can’t continue to represent the government,” Asaf Zamir wrote on Twitter. I consider it my duty to ensure that Israel remains a model for democracy and freedom throughout the world. »

Israel’s main allies, including Washington, have questioned plans to give more power to politicians and reduce the role of the Supreme Court. US President Joe Biden has expressed “concerns” about these judicial reforms, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday.

Prime minister charged with corruption

On Friday in London, where he received Mr. Netanyahu, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stressed “the importance of respecting the democratic values ??on which the relationship between the two countries is based, including in the judicial reform project in Israel,” according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

Israeli MPs are expected to vote in the coming days on one of the central elements of the reform, at the heart of the concerns of its detractors, foreseeing the change in the process for appointing judges. In a speech broadcast on television Thursday evening, Mr. Netanyahu, who had so far remained in the background on this issue, pledged to “end the division among the people”, while underlining his determination to do advance the reform.

The next day, he was called to order by the courts, which deemed his public intervention “illegal” given his ongoing corruption trials. And on Sunday, the Supreme Court gave the prime minister a week to respond to an NGO petition asking that he be punished for “contempt of court” after that speech.

According to the Movement for a Quality Government in Israel petition, seen by Agence France-Presse, Mr. Netanyahu, indicted in a series of cases for corruption, violated an agreement reached with the justice according to which a prime minister indicted is prohibited from acting in any area that could place him in a conflict of interest, according to a 2020 Supreme Court ruling.