Justice reform in Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu announces a “pause”


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday a “pause” in the process of adopting the justice reform under consideration in Parliament, and contested in the streets for nearly three months. “When there is a possibility of preventing a civil war through dialogue, as prime minister I pause for dialogue,” Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address.

Reach agreement on legislation in next session

“I give a real chance to a real dialogue [en signe] of my will to prevent the division of the people. I decided on a break [du travail législatif sur la réforme] during this parliamentary session in order to reach a broad agreement on the legislation during the next” session to open after the Jewish Passover holidays (April 5 to 13). Soon after this speech, the Histadrut, the great central Israeli trade union, announced the end of the general strike declared in the morning with the stated objective of stopping the reform of justice.

“I salute [la décision de Benjamin Netanyahu]. Better late than never”, reacted Benny Gantz (center-right), one of the main opposition figures, announcing that he was ready to go “immediately” and “with an outstretched hand” to discussions under the aegis of the president. Israeli, Isaac Herzog, who has so far tried in vain to mediate between supporters and opponents of the reform.

Strong allies of Israel, the United States welcomed the announced pause which “gives more time to find a compromise”, said Monday the spokeswoman for the White House. The tension was further increased on Sunday after the announcement by Benjamin Netanyahu of the dismissal of his Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, who had spoken publicly the day before for a “pause” in the reform in order to promote a dialogue with the opposition with a view to arriving at a more consensual text.

Clashes with law enforcement

Thousands of Israelis then spontaneously took to the streets in Tel Aviv, giving rise to clashes with the police during the night. After these incidents, President Isaac Herzog, who plays an essentially ceremonial role, called on the government to “immediately stop” the examination of the reform in Parliament. Monday again, a crowd, estimated at 80,000 demonstrators according to Israeli media, gathered around the Parliament in Jerusalem to protest against the reform. In the evening, a counter-demonstration, the first of its kind, was held not far from there, in front of the Supreme Court, bringing together several thousand people, according to an AFP journalist.

Other protests against the reform took place in Tel Aviv and Haifa, in northern Israel. “We call on the government to stop this crazy reform,” one of the protesters, Keren Mimran, 57, a high-tech entrepreneur, told AFP. For the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the most right-wing in the history of Israel, the reform aims, among other things, to rebalance powers by reducing the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, which the executive considers politicized, in favor of the Parliament. The critics of the reform believe that it risks jeopardizing the democratic principles in use in Israel and fear that it opens the way to an authoritarian drift.

Flights canceled due to strike

On Monday, the main employers’ organizations distanced themselves from the Histadrut’s call for a strike while calling for dialogue and “the immediate cessation of the legislative process”. But, very rarely, private companies – banks, insurance companies, clothing and restaurant chains – have decided to close. The strike forced Ben-Gurion International Airport to announce the suspension of outgoing flights as tens of thousands of people were expected to leave the country on Monday.

In pleading for a pause in reform, the defense minister expressed fears for Israel’s security. These fears, according to Yoav Gallant, are linked to the massive participation of army reservists in the protest movement and their commitment not to go to training and not to serve their reserve periods in the event of a reform vote. judicial. The United States said it was “deeply concerned”, and stressed “the urgent need for a compromise”.

In France, the country where the largest Jewish community lives after Israel and the United States, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) called on the Israeli government “to suspend the reform” in order to “restore calm as quickly as possible. and dialogue with the whole of society”. “The Israeli government has suffered a hostile takeover by a messianic, nationalist and anti-democratic group. They won’t stop on their own… What will stop them is you. Your determination,” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid told protesters.



Source link -75