Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sacked Defense Minister Yoav Galant over calls by the latter to halt reform of the legal system. Netanyahu’s entourage said that the defense minister “stabbed a knife in the prime minister’s back and paid the price.”
The day before, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant called for a suspension of the reform, as well as demonstrations at least until Israel’s Independence Day (this year is celebrated on April 26) and to find a public consensus on this matter. “The victory of one of the parties on the streets of cities or in the halls of the Knesset is an absolute loss for the State of Israel. We must put aside the questions of who started and who is right, and lead a unifying and united national process that will strengthen the State of Israel and keep the Israel Defense Forces strong,” he said. According to Mr. Netanyahu, Israel has too many external threats for the country to afford a split both in society in general and in the army in particular. The leaders of the parliamentary opposition supported the Minister of Defense, the public organizations that became the main inspirers of the protest refused to stop the demonstrations, and in the ruling coalition they even demanded the resignation of Yoav Galant.
The reform of the legal system was announced by the government at the end of December, immediately after the swearing-in. If the new laws are adopted in the form that is currently being discussed in the Knesset, this will lead to the destruction of the principle of separation of powers.
Read more in the publication “Kommersant” “Israeli Prime Minister intervened in the reform.”
