The Times of Israel reported that a number of Likud Knesset members backed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s call to stop the “judicial reform” law, while others called on the prime minister to fire him.
According to the paper, internal divisions within the ruling Likud party erupted on Saturday evening following Galant’s call to the government to temporarily suspend passage of the judicial reform law to allow settlement talks.
At least two Likud MPs supported Galant, while other members of the coalition were outraged and called for his removal.
It follows Gallant’s televised speech on Saturday in which he called for an immediate and temporary halt to the far-right government’s controversial plan to reform the judiciary in the first public opposition from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
The defense minister, who cited a “perceptible danger” to Israel’s security as a result of the public division created by the coalition plan, immediately received vocal support from his Likud colleagues, Yuli Edelstein and David Bitan.
Edelstein, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said he thanked Gallant for “getting on the path he’s been on for weeks now.”
Edelstein added: “Most people want and understand the need for change in the judiciary, but it must be done with patience, dialogue and broad discussion in order to reach a broad consensus.”
Bitan similarly reiterated his earlier calls to halt the passage of the law and “start negotiations immediately”, adding that he “supports the words of the Secretary of Defense”.
Several Hebrew media reports on Saturday said a third Likud member, Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, had recently spoken to Netanyahu and other Likud MPs and demanded that they similarly halt judicial reform bills until Independence Day.
Channel 12 News quoted Dichter as saying “there will be no turning back” if the law is passed next week.
On the other hand, Galant was criticized by other Likud members, and Communications Minister Shlomo Karkhi accused him of “giving in under pressure from the left.”
Haters tweeted: “The State of Israel is at a historic crossroads between democracy and dictatorship and its Minister of Defense has chosen a dictatorship (judiciary).”
In turn, Likud spokesman Ofir Katz said that whoever does not vote for judicial reform “has ended his career in Likud,” adding in an interview with Channel 14 that “Galant made a mistake in calling for a stop.” Katz said to Galant: “You are mistaken. Do you think there is another side waiting for you?
In turn, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged Netanyahu to fire Galant.
“I call on the prime minister to fire Galland, who came with the right-wing votes but has succumbed to pressure from those who threatened to refuse military service and is trying to stop an important reform,” he said. .
While Gallant’s words drew applause from the opposition, organizers of the protests, which drew hundreds of thousands on Saturday night, said they would continue until the plan was cancelled.
Source: Times of Israel.
