Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv, blocking a main highway, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
The dismissal signalled that Netanyahu would move ahead this week with the overhaul plan, which has sparked mass protests, angered military and business leaders and raised concerns among Israel’s allies.“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to remove from his position Defence Minister Yoav Gallant,” the prime minister’s office said.
Demonstrations took place in Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, where thousands of people gathered outside Netanyahu’s private residence.Israeli police used a water canon to push back protesters who broke barricades near Netanyahu’s house in Jerusalem, Israeli’s Channel 12 TV network reported. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Gallant’s dismissal was a “new low for the anti-Zionist government that harms national security and ignores warnings of all defence officials”.
Critics say the constellation of laws will remove the checks and balances in Israel’s democratic system and concentrate power in the hands of the governing coalition. Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore a balance between the judicial and executive branches and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.
“A prime minister who doesn’t obey the court and the provisions of the law is privileged and an anarchist,” said Eliad Shraga, the head of the group, echoing language used by Netanyahu and his allies against protesters opposed to the overhaul. “The prime minister will be forced to bow his head before the law and comply with the provisions of the law.”
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