Jerusalem (EFE).- Thousands of Israelis, the majority Army reservists, demonstrated last night in front of the house of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, to ask him to intercede again to request the stoppage of the controversial judicial reform promoted by the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Until 03:00 in the morning (0000 GMT) thousands of people gathered in the northern city of Amikam, while anti-reform activists, including reservist groups, have vowed to intensify their protests to force the government to bury that legislation definitively. , which seeks to undermine the independence of justice and the separation of powers.
“Together we will pin our hopes on the Defense Minister, who has already shown that, in obedience to his conscience, he will not allow Israel’s security to be damaged and the nation to be destroyed,” the Brothers in Arms collective said in a statement. ”, which brings together reservists against the reform.
At the end of March, Gallant publicly asked Netanyahu to stop the judicial reform in the face of the strong social response it had provoked, with weekly mass protests and several letters from reservists or air force pilots refusing to report for duty if that project was still on. .
“Brothers in arms” assured that last night “chiefs of staff and Army generals of all eras, commanders of the Mossad and Shin Bet intelligence corps, and police commissioners” participated in the protest in front of Gallant’s house “to demand the minister to intervene again.
strong social divide
“The social division is deeper than ever and the government coup will destroy the people’s army,” lamented the former head of the Shin Bet Ami Ayalon last night.
“You owe your ministry to us and to the hundreds of thousands who have taken to the streets. You have chosen your loyalty to Israel’s security over loyalty to Netanyahu in the past and we hope you will do so again,” Ayalon urged Gallant.
Banners unfurled at the protest read: “The legislative process must stop,” citing a line from Gallant’s March 25 speech.
Gallant, the first government official to openly express these differences, then cited a “tangible danger” to security, and three months later, given the government’s intention to go ahead with the reform, the military and reservists have once again written letters announcing his intention not to report for duty or training.
Gallant’s public speech in March angered Netanyahu, who fired him the next day; provoking the most massive protests since the reform was announced – more than 700,000 people took to the streets throughout the country – and a general strike was called.
This forced the prime minister to announce that he was freezing the reform to open a dialogue with the opposition and seek a consensus on the matter, in addition to annulling Gallant’s dismissal.
However, negotiations with the opposition broke down in June due to the lack of agreements and Netanyahu announced that they would go ahead with the reform unilaterally, which has revitalized the entire protest movement, and the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) is expected to approve it on Tuesday. on first reading the law that annuls the doctrine of reasonableness, which allows the Supreme Court to review government decisions on its own initiative based on whether they are reasonable or not.
For this reason, the protest movement has called another “day of anger” for Tuesday with massive demonstrations with the intention of blocking roads and avenues throughout the country, which will culminate again with another concentration at the Ben Gurion international airport in Tel Aviv.
Yesterday, more than 180,000 people gathered in central Tel Aviv for the 27th consecutive Saturday, according to organizers, and hundreds of thousands more in the rest of the country.