Following up on our March posting last Monday, the PM said he wanted consensus on divisive plans to weaken the judiciary. He admitted that his proposed package of judicial reforms, which would end judges’ oversight of government, had split the country in two, and said he would delay the legislation until a new session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. “When there’s an opportunity to avoid civil war through dialogue, I, as prime minister, am taking a timeout for dialogue,” Netanyahu, 73, said in a nationally televised address. He called for “an attempt to achieve broad consensus”.
Anshel Pfeffer, Jerusalem, Monday March 27 2023, 7.25pm BST, The Times
Binyamin Netanyahu has been forced to suspend his plans for a radical change in Israel’s democratic structure after an unprecedented protest campaign threatened to turn into a general strike.
As weeks of demonstrations grew to a climax, the prime minister confirmed last night that he was backing off, temporarily, on his proposed judicial reforms. He had indicated earlier in the day that he was in favour of a “pause” but first had to win the agreement of the most radical member of his right-wing coalition, the national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
He admitted that his proposed package of judicial reforms, which would end judges’ oversight of government, had split the country in two, and said he would delay the legislation until a new session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. “When there’s an opportunity to avoid civil war through dialogue, I, as prime minister, am taking a timeout for dialogue,” Netanyahu, 73, said in a nationally televised address. He called for “an attempt to achieve broad consensus”.
Ben-Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party, agreed to back down only when Netanyahu promised not only to reintroduce the legislation but to give Ben-Gvir control of a new volunteer “national guard”.
That move was condemned by the opposition as creating a private “militia” for Ben-Gvir’s far-right faction and leading Israel into a dictatorship.
Nor was it clear whether a delay of a few weeks to the legislation, accompanied by “dialogue”, would be enough to stem the anger of the protesters who brought Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to a halt and the strikers who stopped all flights to and from Ben Gurion airport.
A long night of angry protests throughout Israel had been worsened by Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defence minister, Yoav Galant, after he said that the legislation posed a “clear, immediate and real danger” to Israel’s national security. The professional chiefs of the security forces warned that it was causing significant unrest in the army’s crucial reserve units.
Netanyahu’s earlier refusal to retreat enraged hundreds of thousands of Israelis who took to the streets on Sunday night. According to police, there were about 150 protests around the country. The main protests took place around the Knesset, in Jerusalem, and in central Tel Aviv, where the Ayalon highway was blocked for hours as protesters lit bonfires and fought mounted police for control of the road.
Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem was surrounded by thousands of people chanting pro-democracy slogans and demanding his resignation. “You’re messing with the wrong generation,” they warned, standing their ground as a water cannon was turned on them.
The prime minister was away in his office at the time but Ronen Bar, chief of the Shin Bet security service, turned up personally to ensure the safety of Netanyahu’s family members, who were besieged inside. After hours of angry clashes the protesters moved off to the Knesset, joining a crowd estimated at more than 100,000.
The government’s woes worsened yesterday when, for the first time in Israeli history, trade union leaders and chief executives of leading businesses joined forces to threaten a general strike. Arnon Ben-David, secretary-general of the trade union federation, said they were acting “before Israel descends into the abyss”. Shopping centres, schools and universities and banks began to shut down, as did Israel’s main international airport.
Support for a general strike was the culmination of weeks of intense pressure on the government from Israel’s business community and tech sector and was enough for Netanyahu’s political allies in his Likud party to urge him to suspend the legislation.
The most dramatic pressure on Netanyahu has come from the security forces, where thousands of reserve officers have been threatening to refuse to serve under what many say would be a dictatorship after the reforms.
In an attempt to mollify the troops after the defence minister’s dismissal, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff, sent a rare open letter to all soldiers and officers in regular and reserve service. It said Israel had “never known such days of external threats combining with an internal storm. I am responsible that every mission placed on you will be in defence of Israel’s security and fit the IDF’s values.”
However, that did not stem the disquiet. “We’re still not convinced,” an officer in an elite Israeli airborne reserve unit said. “This government has lost our confidence and we still have to see who Netanyahu appoints as the new defence minister. For now, Ben-Gvir is the senior security minister in the cabinet. We won’t serve under him.”
The leaders of the Israeli opposition have agreed to take part in a process of constitutional consultation but it is unlikely they will reach agreement.
Protesters clashed with police after Netanyahu sacked his defence minister
MOSTAFA ALKHAROUF/GETTY IMAGES
The plan presented three months ago by Netanyahu’s hardline justice minister, Yariv Levin, envisaged limiting the Supreme Court’s powers to intervene in government legislation and policy and allow the coalition to appoint its own candidates to the court. The opposition is adamant that the court remain independent.
“We need to reach a compromise,” Matan Kahana, an MP from the opposition National Union party, said. “Israeli society is split down the middle. Neither side should be allowed to win, so that half of Israel doesn’t feel it has lost. But so far the government has not been amenable to any real compromise.”
President Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, had proposed a compromise, prepared by a team of legal experts, which was immediately rejected by Netanyahu and the coalition. After Sunday night’s protests, Herzog, 62, made a further impassioned plea to the government to relent.
“For the unity of the people of Israel, for the responsibility that binds you, I call on you to stop the legislation process immediately,” he said.