Israel Government Urged to Halt Judicial Reforms by Gallant
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Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has urged an immediate and temporary halt to the far-right government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial plan to reform the judiciary.
Signaling the need for dialogue with the opposition, Gallant asked Netanyahu’s coalition to wait until Passover, which begins on April 5, before moving forward with his divisive plan to overhaul the justice system.
He said he feared that the reform plans would threaten the security of the country. The project sparked the largest protest movement in Israel’s history, with thousands mobilizing to confront the police in the streets on a weekly basis.
“I’m not going to be involved in this,” Gallant said, though he didn’t say what would happen if the government pressed. His statement referred to the first crack in Netanyahu’s coalition, the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.
In recent weeks, dissatisfaction with the overhaul has been mounting from within the Israeli military – what Israelis consider the most respected and unifying institution in the country. In the past weeks, several Israeli reservists have threatened to quit voluntary service, posing a major challenge for Netanyahu as he pushes forward reforms during his corruption trial.
“The events taking place in Israeli society do not exclude the Israeli army – on all sides feelings of anger, pain and disappointment arise, with a force I have never encountered before,” Gallant said in a televised address on the Saturday after the end of World War II. The end of the Jewish Sabbath. “I see how our source of strength is eroding.”
Gallant said the national crisis over judicial reform created a “clear, immediate and tangible danger to the security of the state”.