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Likud Sources: Netanyahu to Freeze Judicial Overhaul After Boisterous Night of Protests [1]

['Michael Hauser Tov']

Date: 2023-03-27

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to announce on Monday morning he is freezing the government’s plan to neuter the High Court after a wave of protests broke out across the country in response to his firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for calling to stop the legislative process.

Likud sources said the embattled prime minister reportedly held discussions overnight about freezing the judicial overhaul legislation.

Gallant’s firing sparked spontaneous protests at what police said were 150 locations around the country, with demonstrators blocking roads and intersections and lighting bonfires. Hundreds of protesters clashed with police and attempted to break through barricades outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem.

“The country won’t remain silent until all dictatorship laws have been abolished completely,” protest leaders declared.

Inside Netanyahu’s Likud party, calls were growing for a freeze, including from Ron Dermer, the minister of strategic affairs and one of the prime minister’s closest confidantes.

Open gallery view Pro-democracy protesters light bonfires, block central Ayalon Highway on Sunday night. Credit: Hadas Parush

Economy Minister Nir Barkat and Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar said they would back Netanyahu if he decided to halt the legislation. “The [judicial] reform is needed, and we will carry it out – but not at the cost of a civil war,” Barkat said. Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli called for dialogue with the opposition.

Arye Dery, a key Netanyahu ally and head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, reportedly expressed support for halting the process. United Torah Judaism party’s Degel Hatorah faction expressed support for the “prime minister and his decisions.”

Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, also called on Netanyahu on Monday to halt the judicial overhaul legislative process, as did a slew of opposition voices.

Open gallery view Mounted police confront protesters on Sunday night. Credit: Fadi Amun

However, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has been the driving force behind the judicial overhaul, threatened to resign if the legislation was halted. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party said “we cannot stop the legislation under any circumstances,” warning it would spark “violence” and “anarchy.” The coalition’s other major far-right party, Otzma Yehudit also called on Netanyahu to stay the course.

Meanwhile, the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee resumed deliberations on the controversial judicial appointments law on Monday morning, managing to pass it ahead of its second and third readings in the full Knesset. The bill is a key part of the judicial overhaul that would give the coalition control over the naming of Supreme Court justices.

On Saturday, amid mass protests against the overhaul, Gallant called to freeze the legislation citing risk to the army’s readiness and the growing societal rift. After Gallant's ousting 24 hours later, the fallout from the decisive event spread beyond street protests and boycotts by army reservists.

Open gallery view Protesters block Ayalon Highway on Sunday night. Credit: Itay Ron

All of Israel’s universities and many colleges announced they would suspend studies in a strike starting Monday morning “against the continuation of the legislative process that undermines the foundations of Israeli democracy.”

The chair of Israel's General Federation of Labor, the country's largest association representing the majority of its trade unionists, warned the organization is preparing for a labor strike of historic proportions unless the judicial overhaul plan is suspended immediately.

"This is a country of the citizens, all its citizens. Not of the Kohelet [Policy] Forum!" chairman Arnon Bar-David declared in a dramatic speech. "We will not allow the country's descent into the abyss... If the legislation isn't stopped, we are going from here to a general strike in Israel."

Open gallery view Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer Boaz Ben Zur, at Jerusalem's district court, in May Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg

Addressing Netanyahu's decision to dismiss Gallant over his concerns with the plan, he said, "What really raised my alarm was the dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. What are we, a banana republic? What is this supposed to be? I urge Prime Minister Netanyahu to return him to his position."

Netanyahu’s lawyer in Case 4000, Boaz Ben Zur, informed Netanyahu that he would no longer represent him in the criminal trial if the legislation is not halted.

Also Sunday might Asaf Zamir, Israel’s consul general in New York, resigned following Gallant’s dismissal in order to “stand up for what is right and fight for the democratic values I believe in.”

News that Netanyahu planned to freeze the legislation caused the shekel to strengthen after a sharp drop the day before over the Gallant's firing. At 10:00 A.M. local time, it had gained more than 1 percent at about 3.59 to the dollar.

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[1] Url: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-03-27/ty-article/.premium/likud-sources-netanyahu-to-freeze-judicial-overhaul-after-boisterious-night-of-protests/00000187-2198-d4ca-afff-31987ff40000

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