ΓΕΝΙΚΗ ΑΠΕΡΓΙΑ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΣ ΜΕΤΑΡΡΥΘΜΙΣΗΣ ΝΕΤΑΝΙΑΧΟΥ
- 27 Apr 2023
- international
Since 13.00 yesterday, thousands of people are demonstrating in front of the Parliament in Jerusalem, while a counter-demonstration is organized in the evening. Demonstrations against the reform are taking place simultaneously in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Earlier, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the government to "immediately halt" legislative work on the judicial reform bill, following a night of clashes between protesters and police in Tel Aviv.
On Sunday night, thousands of citizens took to the streets of Tel Aviv after Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallad for calling for the withdrawal of the reform citing concerns about Israel's security.
In France, the country with the largest Jewish community after Israel, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) called on the Israeli government "to withdraw the reform" of justice "to restore as soon as possible calm and dialogue with the whole society".
The challenge of judicial reform has created the largest popular protest movement in Israel's history against the threat to the state's democratic character.
In a statement issued yesterday, Crif "calls on the Israeli government to stop the reform in order to restore calm and dialogue with the entire society."
He clarifies that "this request is made jointly by personalities of the right as well as of the left, in Israel as well as in the Diaspora".
"Given the division that has been caused throughout the Jewish world, these are not political measures that it is not for Crif to comment on, but to protect the unity of the Jewish people," said Crif's statement, which expressed its "absolute commitment of the founding democratic principles of the State and of Israel and its unity".
An important ally of Israel, the United States has expressed "deep concern" about the judicial reform that the government is attempting, endangering the democratic character of the State of Israel.
And in the background, a new political crisis?
"I call on the prime minister to revoke the removal of Yoav Gallad. The State of Israel cannot at this time, in the face of threats coming from all fronts, allow a change of the Minister of Defense", said the leader of the Israeli opposition Yair Lapid during a press conference together with Yuli Edelstein , a top figure in Likud, Netanyahu's party.
"Given the situation, it is obvious that now is not the time to change the defense minister," said Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
As Israeli media reported on Homeland Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's threat to quit the government - potentially leading to the loss of Netanyahu's majority - if the judicial reform was withdrawn, Economy Minister Nir Barkat, another top Likud official, called on his colleagues via Twitter to "support the prime minister for a pause in legislative reform".
In a sign that the process is continuing in the Knesset, the parliamentary laws committee voted this morning to centralize the bill that is at the heart of all the criticism: legislative.
