After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed his cabinet’s defense minister for opposing his proposed judicial overhaul, protesters flooded Tel Aviv’s streets late Sunday night. People stopped roads and bridges, including the main intracity motorway known as the Ayalon Highway, while yelling “democracy.” Police in Jerusalem shot water cannons at the protesters close to Netanyahu’s home.
A day after Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s divisive proposals to reform the judiciary be put on hold, there were large demonstrations that soon descended into violence. The news that Netanyahu had fired Gallant on Sunday caused thousands to take to the streets and wave blue and white Israeli flags.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided this evening to dismiss Defence Minister Yoav Gallant,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Netanyahu’s proposed judicial reforms will give the administration more discretion in selecting judges
On Saturday, Gallant, a former navy admiral, warned that the overhaul plans risked “a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state”.
“At this time, for the sake of our country, I am willing to take any risk and pay any price,” Gallant said in his televised address.
The proposed judicial reforms will give the administration more discretion in selecting judges. The legislation will also make it more difficult for courts to remove a leader considered unsuitable for office, which appears to be in Netanyahu’s best interests given that he is presently facing corruption charges.
By doing so, he became the first official in the cabinet to speak out against the contentious proposals to reform the judiciary in the nation. “The state of Israel’s security has always been and will always be my life’s mission,” Gallant wrote on Twitter after being sacked.
“State security cannot be a card in the political game. Netanyahu crossed a red line tonight,” opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz said in a joint statement.
The crowd moved to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, after demonstrating outside Neyanyahu’s home and successfully breaking through a security barrier.