JERUSALEM
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday sacked Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, triggering mass protests, a day after Gallant broke ranks with the government and urged a halt to a highly contested plan to overhaul the judicial system.
\nAs news of the dismissal spread, tens of thousands of protesters, many waving blue and white Israeli flags, took to the streets late at night across the country. Crowds gathered outside Netanyahu\u2019s home in Jerusalem, at one point breaching a security cordon.
\nSome three months since taking office, Netanyahu\u2019s nationalist-religious coalition has been plunged into crisis over the bitter divisions exposed by its flagship judicial overhaul plans.
\n\u201cState security cannot be a card in the political game. Netanyahu crossed a red line tonight,\u201d opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz said in a joint statement.
\nThey called on members of Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party not to have a hand in \u201cthe crushing of national security.\u201d
\nIn announcing Gallant\u2019s dismissal, Netanyahu\u2019s office did not name a replacement nor give any other details. \u201cPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided this evening to dismiss Defence Minister Yoav Gallant,\u201d it said.
\nShortly afterward, Gallant, 64, wrote on Twitter: \u201cThe state of Israel\u2019s security has always been and will always be my life\u2019s mission.\u201d
\nPolice use water cannons
\nNetanyahu made the decision to sack Gallant after the former navy admiral warned on Saturday that the overhaul plans risked \u201ca clear, immediate and tangible threat to the security of the state\u201d and called for them to be halted.
\n\u201cAt this time, for the sake of our country, I am willing to take any risk and pay any price,\u201d Gallant said in his televised address.
\nNetanyahu acted in response on Sunday night as he was poised to ratify a central part of the overhaul package, a bill that would tighten political control over judicial appointments, handing the executive wider freedom to name judges to the Supreme Court.
\nEarlier this month, President Isaac Herzog, the head of state who is supposed to remain above politics, warned that the country faced \u201cdisaster\u201d unless a broader consensus could be reached on how to overhaul the judiciary.
\nBut Netanyahu, on trial on corruption charges that he denies, has vowed to continue with a project he says is needed to rein in activist judges and restore the proper balance between an elected government and the judiciary.
\nThe United States said it was deeply concerned by Sunday\u2019s events and saw an urgent need for compromise, while repeating calls to safeguard democratic values.
\nAs protesters poured into the streets, police used water cannons to push them back from Netanyahu\u2019s residence in Jerusalem, while in Tel Aviv, where hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets since the beginning of the year, protesters lighted several bonfires on a main highway.
\nThe protests dwindled as the night went on, and eventually police forcefully removed a smaller crowd that refused to leave.
\nIt was not immediately clear whether the protests would affect the government\u2019s tactics. At least three Likud ministers said publicly that it was time to reevaluate their strategy and they would support halting the legislation if Netanyahu decided to do so. The head of the parliamentary committee deciding on the legislation said discussions would continue on Monday.
\nThe crisis came as Israel\u2019s security establishment has been bracing for potential violence in the coming weeks as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan overlaps with the Jewish Passover and the Christian Easter celebration.
\nOver the past year, Israeli forces have been conducting nearly daily raids in the occupied West Bank, killing more than 250 Palestinian fighters and civilians, while more than 40 Israelis and foreigners have been killed by Palestinian attackers.<\/p>\n
Diplomat resigns
\nGallant on Saturday became the most senior member of Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing Likud party to say he would not support the judicial overhaul, saying protests that have included growing numbers of military reservists were also affecting regular forces and undermining national security.
\nIn recent weeks senior Finance Ministry officials have warned of an economic backlash and business leaders have sounded the alarm for their companies\u2019 future.
\nAdding to the pressure, the head of the Histadrut labour federation, the umbrella organisation for hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, said he was \u201castonished\u201d by Gallant\u2019s removal and promised a \u201cdramatic\u201d announcement on Monday.
\nIsrael\u2019s consul-general in New York said he was resigning over the dismissal. Israel\u2019s research universities announced they would stop holding classes due to the legislative push, calling for its immediate freeze.
\nSome of Netanyahu\u2019s hard-right coalition partners had called for Gallant to be sacked, but a number of other Likud lawmakers have backed his call for a halt to the reforms.
\nThe turmoil comes at a key moment in the passage of the legislation with a bill giving the executive more control over the appointment of judges expected to be brought for ratification this week in the Knesset, where Netanyahu and his allies control 64 out of 120 seats.
\nBut how – or even whether – that as yet-unscheduled vote will proceed has been thrown into question by the wave of protest sparked by Gallant\u2019s removal and the deepening splits within the coalition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday sacked Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, triggering mass protests, a day after Gallant broke ranks with the government and urged a halt to a highly contested plan to overhaul the judicial system. As news of the dismissal spread, tens of thousands of protesters, many waving blue and white […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-322222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n