Newsman: Tens of thousands of Israelis took over the streets of cities across the country on Sunday night in a spontaneous outburst of anger after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister over his opposition to a planned judicial overhaul. An estimated 300,000 citizens marched according to local media. Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister on Sunday, a day after the former army general called for a halt to the planned overhaul of Israel’s judiciary that has fiercely divided the country. Avi Dichter, a former chief of the Shin Bet security agency, is expected to replace Gallant. Dichter had reportedly flirted with joining Gallant but instead announced Sunday he was backing the prime minister.
The unrest deepened a month’s long crisis over Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary, which has sparked mass protests. The grassroots protest movement said it would hold another mass demonstration outside the Knesset, or parliament, in Jerusalem according to Israeli media.
Israel’s largest trade union group launched a strike across a broad swath of sectors Monday, joining a surging protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s The strike by the Histadrut umbrella group, which represents more than 700,000 workers in health, transit and banking, among many other fields, could paralyze large parts of Israel’s economy, which is already on shaky ground, ratcheting up the pressure on Netanyahu to suspend the overhaul.
Universities in Israel will go on strike starting Monday, they announced, and the country’s largest labor union and business leaders said they would hold a press conference on Monday morning.
Protesters in Tel Aviv blocked a main highway and lit large bonfires. Waving Israeli flags and chanting “democratia,” protestors could be seen blocking streets and bridges, including the Ayalon Highway.
Departing flights out of the country’s main international airport were grounded in protest, affecting thousands of travelers.
Demonstrations were also in Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, where thousands of people gathered outside Netanyahu’s private residence. Police scuffled with protesters and sprayed the crowd with water cannon. Thousands then marched from the residence to the Knesset.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog called on Netanyahu and his government to immediately pause the plans, saying “the eyes of the whole world are on you.”
“Deep concern hovers over the entire nation. Security, economy, society – everyone is threatened,” Herzog said in the statement.
“The eyes of all the people of Israel are on you. The eyes of all the Jewish people are on you. The eyes of the whole world are on you. For the sake of the unity of Israelis, for the sake of committed responsibility I call on you to halt the legislative procedure immediately.”
Protesters lit several fires on the main highway in Tel Aviv, their acrid, black smoke billowing into the sky, partly obscuring some of the city’s iconic skyscrapers. But protests had thinned out as security forces fired water cannons protesters gathered.
Netanyahu’s dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the prime minister and his allies will barrel ahead this week with the overhaul plan .But as droves of protesters flooded the streets late into the night, Likud ministers began indicating willingness to hit the brakes. Culture Minister Micky Zohar, a Netanyahu confidant, said the party would support him if he decided to pause the judicial overhaul.
In a brief statement, Netanyahu’s office said late Sunday that the prime minister had dismissed Gallant. Netanyahu later tweeted “we must all stand strong against refusal.”
Gallant argued for a halt to the judicial reforms in a speech Saturday night, when Netanyahu was out of the country on an official visit to the United Kingdom. Some military reservists have pledged to pull out of their service in opposition to the plans, which critics say would undermine the independence of the judiciary. Gallant said pressing ahead with the proposals could threaten Israel’s security.
In his speech on Saturday, Gallant said the pause was needed “for the security of Israel,” citing the refusal of some Israel Defense Forces reservists to train in protest at the government plans.
Gallant reiterated that sentiment in a tweet on Sunday after his dismissal: “The security of the State of Israel has always been and will always remain the mission of my life.”
