Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Sunday, after Gallant publicly demanded the government freeze its judicial overhaul. Netanyahu made the decision Sunday evening, a day after Gallant’s public address regarding the judicial
reform plan.
In Gallant’s address he stated, “A victory for one of the parties will be a loss of the State of Israel. For the sake of Israel’s security, the legislative process should be stopped, and negotiations should be held.
Today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have reached an agreement that the judicial reform legislation will be frozen for the time being and brought up again during the Knesset’s summer session to allow for negotiations on the reforms, the Otzma Yehudit party announced Monday evening.
At the same time, the two agreed that as a step to keep the peace in Israeli cities, the establishment of s National Guard under the auspices of the National Security Ministry will be approved at the next cabinet meeting. Ben-Gvir said: “I agreed to remove my veto on the postponement of the legislation, in exchange for a commitment from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the legislation will be brought to the Knesset for approval in the next session, if no agreements are reached during the recess.”
The announcement comes as tens of thousands of right-wing Israelis are converging on the Knesset from across the country to demonstrate in favor of the judicial reforms and to demand that the government not freeze the legislation.
Meanwhile a poll conducted shows that 66% of the Israeli public does not want a freeze on the reform process. That’s more than 50% – a majority of those surveyed!! Will a break in the judicial reform process prompt a level of soul searching from the left and restore a measure of sanity to the badly needed judicial reforms process? As we’ve said before, something like that will only happen when the opposition sits down at the negotiating table to lay out their rational minded concerns. Until then, they only continue to hurt Israel – and themselves.
The latest update….no sooner than Netanyahu announced that he froze the judicial reforms process, Ben Gurion Airport announced it will resume operations. Now that there is a pause in the process, things are expected to return to normal in Israel. But for how long?? Netanyahu’s government is not giving up on reforming the judicial system, just postponing it to resume at a later date. It remains to be seen what will transpire between now and then.
Photo above shows supporters of judicial plan who came out strongly Monday.
Netanyahu fires Defense Minister Gallant, by David Rosenberg, March 26, 2023