The Israeli government’s justice reform project, which has already generated 12 weeks of protests, The departure of the Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, was claimed this Sundayfor his pronouncement in favor of stopping the parliamentary process to favor a dialogue and that the initiative does not occur with so much opposition.
Netanyahu’s decision prompted crowds to take to the streets in several cities to question it.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Gallant, a decision he announced in a statement in which he warned that the now former minister “has put himself behind the government’s back.”
Netanyahu is on an official visit to the UK.
Gallant remains an MP for Netanyahu’s Likud partybut it is not known if he will continue to form part of the Government, the result of a complex balance of forces between the right-wing and ultra-right parties that make up the coalition that supports the prime minister.
The Europa Press agency reported that some 600,000 people spontaneously took to the streets of the main cities at night to repudiate Gallant’s dismissal.
According to Channel 12, the demonstrations took place from Kiryat Shmona, in the north, to Eliat, in the south, with special repercussions in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Beersheva.
In Jerusalem, protesters marched from Netanyahu’s home on Gaza Street toward the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and the prime minister’s official residence.
The Police used jets of water against the demonstrators gathered in front of Netanyahu’s house.
After knowing the departure of the Gallant Executive, Opposition leader Yair Lapid questioned that Netanyahu changed Gallant “only because he warned him of the threat posed to Israel’s security” by his judicial reform.
“It is an anti-Zionist government that goes against national security and ignores the warnings of all those in charge of the security apparatus,” Lapid argued.
And he insisted: “Netanyahu can kick out Gallant, but he can’t kick out reality and he can’t kick out the people of Israel, who are rising up against the coalition madness.”
According to the Europa Press agency, the Minister of Agriculture, Avi Dichter, appears as the favorite to succeed Gallant. Dichter was director of the secret service for the interior of Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Shin Bet.
However, Dichter also raised doubts about the risks to the country’s cohesion and security of going ahead with judicial reform.
Economy Minister Nir Barkat could also fill the post.
Gallant broke on Saturday the Israeli government’s monolithic defense of the controversial judicial reform pushed by Netanyahu and that pushed the country into a deep political crisis. by the protests of the opposition, which denounces a threat to the division of powers.
“I have never seen the level of hatred and pain that I see now. The division in society reaches as far as the Army and this poses an immediate and tangible danger to the security of the State. I am not going to give in on this. We need to change the judiciary, but “Important changes must be made through dialogue. The legislative process must be stopped,” Gallant said. in a televised speech.
In recent weeks, Gallant himself had maintained contacts with military commanders. “I’m concerned about what I’ve heard,” he warned.
The National Security Minister, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, immediately called for Gallant’s removal of Netanyahu.
“I ask the prime minister to remove Gallant, who was appointed with the votes of the right, but who has yielded to the pressure of those who have threatened rejection (to serve voluntarily in the Armed Forces) and tries to stop this important reform Gvir claimed.
The government reform project seeks to increase the power of elected officials to the detriment of the Judiciary and, according to its critics, endangers the democratic character of the State of Israel.
Channel 12 reported, citing its own sources, that the Israeli Army raised the alert level due to the risk of external actors trying to take advantage of the moment, but Kan public television denied the news.
