“Brake” has been pressed Israel with citizens demonstrating against the judiciary reform of the Netanyahu government which has divided the country and threatens to trigger a new political crisis. Citizens have taken to the streets while the Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union, declared an immediate “general strike”, demanding the withdrawal of the bill.
Israel awaits the Prime Minister’s announced announcement Benjamin Netanyahuwhich according to Israeli media is imminent, on the fate of the reform that is shaking the governing coalition.
The head of the Histadrut union announced on Monday morning (27/3) during a press conference the immediate declaration of a general strike demanding the withdrawal of the judicial reform plan.
“I call for a general strike immediately after the press conference, the State of Israel ceases” said Arnon Bar David, head of the Histadrut. “Our mission is to stop the legislative process and we will do it,” he added, as reported by the Athens News Agency. The Israel Medical Association followed by also declaring a general strike that will affect hospitals and public medical services.
Since the morning, the workers at Ben Gurion Airport participate in the general strikeresulting in flights not being carried out.
Alongside the two major ports of Israel, Haifa and Ashdod, announced the suspension of their operations in the context of the general strike.
Thousands of citizens in the streets
From 13:00, thousands of people demonstrate in front of the Parliament in Jerusalem, while a counter-demonstration is organized in the evening. Demonstrations against the reform are taking place simultaneously in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Earlier, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the government to “immediately halt” legislative work on the judicial reform bill, following a night of clashes between protesters and police in Tel Aviv.
Last night (Sunday 3/26), thousands of citizens took to the streets of Tel Aviv after Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallad for calling for the withdrawal of the reform citing concerns about Israel’s security.
In France, the country with the largest Jewish community after Israel, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) called on the Israeli government to “withdraw the reform” of justice “to restore as soon as possible calm and dialogue with the whole society”.
The challenge of judicial reform has created the largest popular protest movement in Israel’s history against the threat to the state’s democratic character.
In a statement issued today, Crif “calls on the Israeli government to stop the reform in order to restore calm and dialogue with the entire society.”
He clarifies that “this request is made jointly by personalities of the right as well as of the left, in Israel as well as in the Diaspora”.
“Given the division that has been caused throughout the Jewish world, these are not political measures that it is not for Crif to comment on, but to protect the unity of the Jewish people,” said Crif’s statement, which expressed its “absolute commitment of the founding democratic principles of the State and of Israel and its unity”.
Israel’s key ally the United States expressed ‘deep concern’ for the judicial reform that the government is attempting, jeopardizing the democratic character of the State of Israel.
Is a new political crisis coming?
“I call on the prime minister to revoke the removal of Yoav Gallad. The State of Israel cannot at this time, in the face of threats coming from all fronts, allow a change of the Minister of Defense”, said the leader of the Israeli opposition Yair Lapid during a press conference together with Yuli Edelstein , a top figure in Likud, Netanyahu’s party.
“Given the situation, it is obvious that now is not the time to change the defense minister,” said Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
As Israeli media reported on Homeland Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s threat to quit the government – potentially leading to the loss of Netanyahu’s majority – if the judicial reform was withdrawn, Economy Minister Nir Barkat, another top Likud official, called on his colleagues via Twitter to “support the prime minister for a pause in legislative reform”.
In an indication that the process continues in the Knessetthe parliamentary law committee voted this morning in favor of a central regulation of the bill that is at the center of all the criticism: the legislative regulations that change the process of appointing judges.
Source: News Beast
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