Israeli premier Benyamin Netanyahu will speak to the nation this morning and, according to media citing sources close to the executive, could finally announce the suspension of the judicial reform. The turning point would come after the night of strong protests across the country due to the dismissal of the defense minister Yoav Gallant, who had asked for the reform to be halted. President Herzog also asked this morning.
Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara landed in Israel on Saturday night a few hours after defense minister Yoav Galant’s address to the nation: he was the first to order the break-up order and ask Bibi, as he is nicknamed, to stop the forced march in parliament of that justice plan that the opposition and the Israelis who have been protesting for 11 weeks consider it a blitz to dismantle democracy. “The rift in society is involving the army. This situation represents a serious and imminent danger for the country. I will not allow it,” said the former general who entered Netanyahu’s Likud politics.
Which put us one day to fire himwhile the protesters took a few minutes to invade the streets again after the announcement: hundreds of thousands in the avenues of Tel Aviv and towards the premier’s residence in Jerusalem. In New York, the consul Asaf Zamir is leaving in protest, the universities are on strike today and the unions are preparing a general blockade.
News from home had also pursued the Conservative leader in London. and thelobster, albeit cooked by Gordon Ramsay, risks remaining on the stomach a Benjamin Netanyahu. Which was photographed by table neighbors in London while he tasted the recipes of the British chef after meeting with the prime minister Rishi Sunak. Thus, on the already overflowing plate of issues to be resolved, the Israeli premier also found himself criticized for having desecrated Shabbat — dinner was on a Friday evening — and having eaten a shellfish, forbidden by the Jewish religion. A menu that becomes political because its far-right coalition aims to churn out the “law of unleavened bread” in hospitals in time for the Easter holidays in about ten days: the ultra-Orthodox parties want to prevent doctors, patients, visiting relatives to eat a loaf of bread in the ward, even just a pita for Arabs.
From Washington, the Americans say they are “deeply concerned” and echo Galant’s words: “The reaction capacity of the armed forces could be compromised”. The reservists refuse to report for training and are already jamming the operations of elite units such as the aviation squadron 69 (they are the pilots of the most advanced F-15i, the ones who should lead a possible mission against the centers atomic bombs developed by Tehran, an attack that the prime minister repeats that he judges ever closer). Even the fighters of the special forces (even the prestigious Sayeret Matkal in which Netanyahu served) revolt up to the soldiers who have to serve in the Palestinian territories, where there would have been an increase in renunciations of up to 15 percent.
The General Staff has summoned Israeli journalists to publicize the fears: “The enemies see us as weak, they calculate that our possibilities of responding to an attack are limited,” explained a source, specifying that this analysis is shared by the secret services. For the first time, even the two ultra-Orthodox parties seem to be proposing a break but Netanyahu has no intention of stopping for now: he wants to approve within this week the text which guarantees him to control the appointments of judges, effectively subjecting the Supreme Court to the decisions of the executive without the possibility of rejecting laws that conflict with civil rights or democratic norms.
