ISRAEL (IINO)
Turmoil in Israel: Gallant Fired, Judicial Reform Halted, Left and Right Protests Intensify by AFSI Staff
March 27, 2023 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Sunday, after Gallant publicly demanded the government freeze its judicial overhaul. Netanyahu made the decision Sunday evening, a day after Gallant’s public address regarding the judicial reform plan.
In Gallant’s address he stated, “A victory for one of the parties will be a loss of the State of Israel. For the sake of Israel’s security, the legislative process should be stopped, and negotiations should be held.
Today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have reached an agreement that the judicial reform legislation will be frozen for the time being and brought up again during the Knesset’s summer session to allow for negotiations on the reforms, the Otzma Yehudit party announced Monday evening.
At the same time, the two agreed that as a step to keep the peace in Israeli cities, the establishment of s National Guard under the auspices of the National Security Ministry will be approved at the next cabinet meeting. Ben-Gvir said: “I agreed to remove my veto on the postponement of the legislation, in exchange for a commitment from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the legislation will be brought to the Knesset for approval in the next session, if no agreements are reached during the recess.”
The announcement comes as tens of thousands of right-wing Israelis are converging on the Knesset from across the country to demonstrate in favor of the judicial reforms and to demand that the government not freeze the legislation.
Meanwhile a poll conducted shows that 66% of the Israeli public does not want a freeze on the reform process. That’s more than 50% – a majority of those surveyed!! Will a break in the judicial reform process prompt a level of soul searching from the left and restore a measure of sanity to the badly needed judicial reforms process? As we’ve said before, something like that will only happen when the opposition sits down at the negotiating table to lay out their rational minded concerns. Until then, they only continue to hurt Israel – and themselves.
[Ed.: Reuven “Ruvi” Rivlin is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the tenth president of Israel between 2014 and 2021, said of the (not very) ‘Supreme Court’ that it is “a gang of thugs.”]
Tel Aviv Protest 3/26/23 [0:16]
As the rift in Israeli society grows, this is what Christians abroad should know ADAM ELIYAHU BERKOWITZ
“Speak up, judge righteously, Champion the poor and the needy.” – PROVERBS 31:9 (THE ISRAEL BIBLE)
MARCH 27, 2023 – In the past few weeks, Israel has been experiencing a deep political and societal crisis. For people abroad who feel spiritually close to the Jewish State, the situation can appear confusing. David Parsons, the Vice President and Senior Spokesman of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, offers his perspective to shed light on what is happening.
On Friday, the heads of the protests against the judicial reforms proposed by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government vowed to hold a nationwide “week of paralysis” and on Sunday night, it seemed to appear. The mass protests that began three months ago came to a head after Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday. Gallant, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, called for the Prime Minister to compromise on the judicial reforms.
“This poses a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state. I will not lend my hand to this,” Gallant said in a televised statement.
Dissent within the coalition would endanger the bill. If four MKs vote to oppose the reforms, it will not pass. But if four MKs abstain, the bill will still have enough votes to pass.
As word of Gallant’s firing spread, protesters were galvanized into action, blocking major highways and lighting bonfires.
WATCH THE PINTELE YID: Protester Moved To Tears By Shabbos Songs Playing In Bnei Brak
March 23, 2023 4:15 pm – One of the left-wing protesters in Bnei Brak on Thursday night was moved to tears by the Shabbos songs playing on loudspeakers.
He took off his helmet with a mounted camera to wipe the tears streaming down his face.
He then stood and swayed to the song, singing along with great emotion.
The Chareidi girl who took the video said that the protester told her that when he heard Shalom Aleichem playing, it reminded him of his father, z’l, who always spoke about ahavas chinam.
[Ed.: Ahavas chinam means that you love the person for no reason. For Jewish people, the gates of tears are always open ……
“in all their troubles, He too is troubled”.
“The erev rav run amok in the streets like rabid dogs off leash; Bibi was abroad, was seem again eating lobster on Shabbat, in a restaurant, etc.”
and with all that, “Hashem protects all those who love Him, and their cries He will hear and will save them, and all the evil He will destroy”.]
Mass protests roil Israel overnight – ‘Bibi declared civil war’ By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
March 27, 2023 – Hundreds of thousands of protesters block Ayalon Highway, light fires, smash police blockade near Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem; Netanyahu expected to announce pause in judicial overhaul legislation.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets throughout Israel late Sunday evening and in the early hours of Sunday morning, on the heels of an announcement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he had fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Gallant had warned that refusals by IDF reservists opposed to the judicial overhaul are endangering the army’s operational readiness and urged for a pause to the reform legislation due to the phenomenon.
Former Israeli Air Force head Eitan Ben-Eliahu told Hebrew language media that by firing Gallant, Netanyahu “has declared civil war.” His words appeared to resonate with hundreds of thousands of protesters opposed to the reform.
[Ed.: No, Netanyahu did NOT declare ‘civil war’. The secular leftist, Soros paid ‘protesters’ are declaring that. In their atheistic cosmology that is an option. But the vast majority of Israels’ population are real Jews whose cosmology and whose Torah prohibits raising a hand against a fellow Jew. This means that civil war is not a possibility. That stuff must have come out of George Soros’ office. Jews don’t do that with each other. And that means that if these devildemocommiecrats do resort to violence, they will be prosecuted for that in civil courts (as well as the real Supreme Court upstairs.) End of story.]
Ben-Gvir: Judicial reform pause means government is over By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
March 27, 2023 – Ben-Gvir reportedly urged Netanyahu “not to surrender to [left-wing] terrorism” and said the prime minister should not give the demonstrators “a reward for violence.”
After hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in chaotic protests overnight Sunday and an unprecedented national labor strike was declared on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to give a public statement announcing a pause to legislation aiming to reform Israel’s judicial system.
While such an announcement could provide relief from the mass protests and strikes that are currently paralyzing the country, Netanyahu’s concession could spell the end of his right-wing coalition.
During a meeting of coalition party heads on Monday morning, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Otzma Yehudit party, said that any pause in the judicial overhaul would lead to the collapse of the government.
‘Historic’ strike: Israel shutting down; flights, medical services, pre-schools canceled By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
March 27, 2023 – No takeoffs from airport, local authorities and main labor union going on strike, and universities shutting doors are some of the newest anti-government plans.
The mass protest against the government’s planned judicial reforms leapt up several notches Monday as a slew of shutdowns were announced that should affect every citizen in the country.
Histadrut Labor Federation head Arnon Bar-David announced a “historic” strike at a press conference in the morning. This is “the right way,” he said, “to bring the country back to sanity,” as “employers and employees link hands together and shut down the State of Israel.”
Bar-David maintained that this was not a political matter, “not an issue of right and left,” but that matters have simply come to a head and “we can’t tear apart the nation anymore.”
