Demonstrators block a highway in central Tel Aviv, Sunday March 26, 2023. OHAD ZWIGENBERG / AP
Wanted to rise above political affairs, he warned as early as 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 judicial reform project that is dividing the country. Herr Herzog made this call Twitter after thousands of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Sunday night after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sacked his defense minister Yoav Gallant, a supporter of a pause on judicial reform the government hopes to get through parliament.
In response to the news, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, many waving Israeli flags. A crowd gathered outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem and at one point managed to cross a security cordon before police used water cannon to disperse the protesters. In Tel Aviv, crowds have gathered on Kaplan Street in the city center, the epicenter of protests since the unveiling of the reform project that is dividing the country in January.
Protests in central Tel Aviv https://t.co/yveHG9ctgr
US concerns
The US declared itself “deeply concerned” and spoke of the “urgent need for a 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 greatest possible support from the population,” she stressed.
With this reform, the government, one of the most far-right in the history of Israel, wants to strengthen the power of elected officials over judges. But according to critics, the project endangers the democratic character of the State of Israel. Mr Netanyahu and his far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies believe there is a need to restore a balance of power between elected officials and the Supreme Court, which they believe is politicized.
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On Saturday, Yoav Gallant, former commander of the Israeli Navy, warned that judicial reform posed a “clear, imminent and palpable threat” to state security and called for the project to be suspended. He added during 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 described the minister’s dismissal on Twitter as a “dangerous decision” that “had convinced him[il] could no longer represent this government”.
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