Israeli prime minister fires defense minister, sparking mass protests

Tens of thousands of Israelis poured into the streets of cities across the country on Sunday night in a spontaneous outburst of anger after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly fired his defense minister for challenging the Israeli leader's judicial overhaul plan.

Protesters in Tel Aviv blocked a main highway and lit large bonfires, while police scuffled with protesters who gathered outside Netanyahu's private home in Jerusalem.

The unrest deepened a monthslong crisis over Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the judiciary, which has sparked mass protests, alarmed business leaders and former security chiefs and drawn concern from the United States and other close allies.

Netanyahu's dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signaled that the prime minister and his allies will barrel ahead this week with the overhaul plan. Gallant had been the first senior member of the ruling Likud party to speak out against it, saying the deep divisions were threatening to weaken the military.

On Monday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog also called for an immediate halt to the government's controversial plan. Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, made the call on Twitter following the large demonstrations in Tel Aviv.

And as droves of protesters flooded the streets late into Sunday night, Likud ministers began indicating a willingness to hit the brakes. Culture Minister Micky Zohar, a Netanyahu confidant, said the party would support him if he decided to pause the judicial overhaul.

Israeli media said leaders in Netanyahu's coalition were to meet on Monday morning. Later in the day, the grassroots protest movement said it would hold another mass demonstration outside the Knesset, or parliament, in Jerusalem.

U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement Sunday night that the NSC is "deeply concerned by today's developments out of Israel." 

"Democratic societies are strengthened by checks and balances, and fundamental changes to a democratic system should be pursued with the broadest possible base of popular support," Watson added. "We continue to strongly urge Israeli leaders to find a compromise as soon as possible."

Asaf Zamir, consul general of Israel in New York, said he was resigning shortly after Gallant's dismissal.

"Today's dangerous decision to fire the Minister of Defense convinced me that I can no longer continue representing this government," Zamir said in a resignation letter he shared on Twitter. "I have become increasingly concerned with the policies of the new government, and in particular, the judicial reform it is leading. I believe that this reform undermines the very foundation of our democratic system and threatens the rule of law in our country.

Avi Dichter, a former chief of the Shin Bet security agency, is expected to replace him. Dichter had reportedly flirted with joining Gallant but instead announced Sunday he was backing the prime minister.

In a brief statement, Netanyahu's office said late Sunday the prime minister had dismissed Gallant. Netanyahu later tweeted "we must all stand strong against refusal."  

Protesters on Sunday blocked Tel Aviv's main artery, transforming the Ayalon highway into a sea of blue-and-white Israeli flags and lighting a large bonfire in the middle of the road. Demonstrations took place in Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, where thousands of people gathered outside Netanyahu's private residence.

Police scuffled with protesters and sprayed the crowd with a water cannon.

Inon Aizik, 27, said he came to demonstrate outside Netanyahu's private residence in central Jerusalem because "bad things are happening in this country," referring to the judicial overhaul as "a quick legislative blitz."

The decision to fire Gallant came less than a day after the former senior general called for a pause in the controversial legislation until after next month's Independence Day holidays, citing the turmoil in the ranks of the military over the plan.

Gallant had voiced concerns that the divisions in society were hurting morale in the military and emboldening Israel's enemies across the region. "I see how the source of our strength is being eroded," Gallant said.

While several other Likud members had indicated they might follow Gallant, the party quickly closed ranks on Sunday, clearing the way for his dismissal.

Galit Distal Atbaryan, Netanyahu's public diplomacy minister, said Netanyahu summoned Gallant to his office and told him "that he doesn't have any faith in him anymore and therefore he is fired."

Gallant tweeted shortly after the announcement that "the security of the state of Israel always was and will always remain my life mission."

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Gallant's dismissal "harms national security and ignores warnings of all defense officials."

"The prime minister of Israel is a threat to the security of the state of Israel," Lapid wrote on Twitter.

Netanyahu's government is pushing ahead for a parliamentary vote this week on a centerpiece of the overhaul — a law that would give the governing coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. It also seeks to pass laws that would grant parliament the authority to override Supreme Court decisions with a basic majority and limit judicial review of laws.

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.

But 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. They also say that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, has a conflict of interest.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets over the past three months to demonstrate against the plan in the largest demonstrations in the country's 75-year history.

Leaders of Israel's vibrant high-tech industry have said the changes will scare away investors, former top security officials have spoken out against the plan and key allies, including the United States and Germany, have voiced concerns.

In recent weeks discontent has even surged from within Israel's army — the most popular and respected institution among Israel's Jewish majority. A growing number of Israeli reservists, including fighter pilots, have threatened to withdraw from voluntary duty in the past weeks.

Israel's military is facing a surge in fighting in the occupied West Bank, threats from Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group and concerns that archenemy Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapons capability.

Violence both in Israel and the occupied West Bank has escalated over the past few weeks to heights unseen in years.

Manuel Trajtenberg, head of an influential Israeli think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies, said that "Netanyahu can dismiss his defense minister, he cannot dismiss the warnings he heard from Gallant."

Meanwhile, an Israeli good governance group on Sunday asked the country's Supreme Court to punish Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with the country's judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of the overhaul, asked the court to force Netanyahu to obey the law and sanction him either with a fine or prison time for not doing so. It said he was not above the law.

"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."

The prime minister responded saying the appeal should be dismissed and said that the Supreme Court didn't have grounds to intervene.

Netanyahu is barred by the country's attorney general from directly dealing with his government's plan to overhaul the judiciary, based on a conflict of interest agreement he is bound to, and which the Supreme Court acknowledged in a ruling over Netanyahu's fitness to serve while on trial for corruption. Instead, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidant of Netanyahu, is spearheading the overhaul.

But on Thursday, after parliament passed a law making it harder to remove a sitting prime minister, Netanyahu said he was unshackled from the attorney general's decision and vowed to wade into the crisis and "mend the rift" in the nation. That declaration prompted the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, to warn that Netanyahu was breaking his conflict of interest agreement by entering the fray.

The fast-paced legal and political developments have catapulted Israel into uncharted territory and toward a burgeoning constitutional crisis, said Guy Lurie, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.

"We are at the start of a constitutional crisis in the sense that there is a disagreement over the source of authority and legitimacy of different governing bodies," he said.

Netanyahu is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate affairs involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and dismisses critics who say he will try to seek an escape route from the charges through the legal overhaul.

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• Benjamin Neta​nyahu