After the dismissal of Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and thousands of people flocking to Kaplan Street in central Tel Aviv, the epicenter of protests against judicial reforms since January, the army raised the alert.
While the councils of university, high school and middle school students in Israel announced a general strike today, Monday, in protest against the judicial reforms that the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu intends to pass.
maelstrom
While the Israeli Army Staff Command is expected to discuss the dimensions and repercussions of that dismissal, which sparked outrage during the past hours.
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the leaders of the ruling coalition parties to an emergency meeting in the morning.
He is also expected to meet at a later time with the heads of the Israeli parties to discuss the next steps to solve the judicial reform crisis.
From the demonstrations in Tel Aviv (AFP)
“Baby go away!”
These developments and the security alert came after thousands of demonstrators poured into the streets of Tel Aviv on Sunday night and closed the Ayalon highway, according to AFP.
The demonstrators also carried blue and white flags, chanting slogans, including “Bibi, leave!”, referring to Netanyahu’s nickname, and calling for an end to the judicial amendments.
In addition, other spontaneous gatherings were recorded in front of the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem and in other cities such as Haifa (in the north) and Beersheba (in the south), according to local media.
Netanyahu sacked the defense minister after he demanded, on Saturday evening, to freeze the mechanism for amending the judicial system, which the government seeks for a month, which ignited the already burning debate in the country.
Why Netanyahu insists on the “Judicial Reform Law”
Since the fourth of last January, Israel has been experiencing one of its worst political and judicial crises, due to the controversial “judicial reform” law that the Netanyahu government adheres to, seeking to introduce radical changes to the judicial system, especially since many right-wingers in Israel believe that the Supreme Court tends to The left is elitist and interferes heavily in political affairs, as well as the rights of minorities often over national interests.
So the government is pushing for changes that would limit the powers of this court to issue rulings against the legislative and executive branches, while giving MPs more power in appointing judges, which currently requires the approval of politicians and judges who are members of the relevant committee.
However, the opposition raged against these steps, and yesterday it reached an unprecedented level, prompting many officials to warn of a threat to Israel’s security.
