March 27th Uproar in Israel Before Passover Resulting From Judicial Reform Threat

 Nadene Goldfoot                                       

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Photo: Gil Cohen-MagenAFP via Getty, fired by Netanyahu

Prime Minister Netanyahu has reportedly told the leaders of the coalition that he will halt the judicial reform process. 

Several government ministers pressed the PM to halt the reforms. 

The ultra-Orthodox parties said that they would support a halt to the reforms.

 Betzalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party and Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party expressed their opposition to the halt.

Israel is in turmoil today as a result of the massive protest 

movement against the judicial reforms the government is 

seeking to push through. The Histadrut, Israel's largest labor 

union, has called a strike. The country's hospitals will only be 

dealing with emergency situations. The union of workers of 

Israel's Airport Authorities (IAA) announced it was stopping all 

flights from the Ben Gurion International Airport. Banks are 

closed. Government offices are closed, including Israeli 

embassies and consulates abroad. Highways are shut down. 

Many private sector businesses, including malls, will also be 

shutting down. Massive demonstrations are in process or are 

planned for later tonight. A massive pro government 

demonstration is also planned for later tonight in Jerusalem.

The size and intensity of the protest against the government 

throughout the country have increased after Prime Minister 

Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Gallant after Gallant 

publicly 

called for a halt to the judicial reform process because he felt 

that the split in Israeli society is weakening the IDF and 

jeopardizing Israel's security. Many Likud supporters are 

angry at the firing of the Defense Minister and have joined the 

demonstrations.

Yoav Gallant was born in Jaffa to Polish Jewish immigrants. His mother, Fruma, was a Holocaust survivor who had been on the SS Exodus as a child. Along with other Exodus refugees, she was deported by the British to Hamburg, and arrived in Israel in 1948. She was a nurse by profession. His father, Michael, fought the Nazis as a partisan in the forests of Ukraine and Belarus, and also immigrated to Israel in 1948. He served in the Givati Brigade in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, including the Samson's Foxes unit, and was considered one of the finest snipers in the IDF. He participated in Operation Yoav, during which he was the first soldier to break into the fort at Iraq Suwaydan. He named his son for the operation. In Gallant's youth, the family moved to Givatayim, where he studied at David Kalai high school. He received a BA in Business and Finance Management from the University of Haifa.                                     

Gallant lives in Moshav Amikam. He is married to Claudine, a retired IDF lieutenant colonel. They have a son and two daughters.He served as the Minister of Defense from 2022 to 2023 before being dismissed. He is a former commander of the Southern Command in the Israel Defense Forces. In January 2015, he entered politics, joining the new Kulanu party. After being elected to the Knesset, he was appointed Minister of Construction. At the end of 2018, he joined Likud. Gallant also previously held the posts of Minister of Aliyah and Integration and Minister of Education.

Update: 3:30pm If adopted, the reform would grant the Knesset the power to override Supreme Court rulings that deem legislation passed by the Knesset as unconstitutional, by reintroducing the legislation and approving it with a majority of Knesset Members. The reform would additionally diminish the ability of courts to conduct judicial review of the Basic Laws, and change the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee so that a majority of its members are appointed by the government and effective control over the appointment of judges is given to the government. Levin and the ruling government coalition have stated that the above is the first step in their judicial reform, and that additional steps are planned, including changing the appointment process of legal advisors to government ministries, such that they are appointed and dismissed by the ministers; making their legal advice a recommendation rather than binding on the ministers; and making them subordinate directly to the ministers rather than to the Justice Ministry's professional oversight. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that the reform is necessary because the judiciary has too much control over public policy, and a better balance is needed between democratically elected legislators and the judiciary. However, Netanyahu has been barred from actively taking part in the governmental process of the judicial reform by the Attorney General, due to a conflict of interest stemming from his ongoing trial.

Resource:

Israel AM:  https://www.israelam.com/current-issue/?utm_source=email

https://www.axios.com/2023/03/26/netanyahu-gallant-fires-judicial-overhaul-plan-israel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Israeli_judicial_reform