Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the government to halt a controversial judicial reform, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister for opposing the move, sparking mass street protests, Hina reports.
"For the sake of the unity of the people of Israel, for the sake of responsibility, I call on you to stop the legislative process immediately," Herzog said on Twitter.
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Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Galant on Sunday, a day after he called for a one-month pause in the process of a controversial judicial reform the government wants to implement. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to dismiss the duties of Defense Minister Yoav Galant," the Prime Minister's office announced briefly on Sunday.
Galant, a member of the right-wing Likud party, like Netanyahu, said in his speech on Saturday night that continuing to divide the public over the issue would be "a real threat to Israel's security." Protests have been held every week since Benjamin Netanyahu's government, one of the most right-wing in Israel's history, proposed a divisive reform plan in January.
By raising concerns at home and abroad, the reform should increase the influence of MPs on the courts. Its critics point out that it threatens the democratic principles of the Israeli state. Netanyahu and his allies, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, believe that the planned reform is necessary in order to restore the balance of power between the deputies and the Supreme Court, which they consider politicized.
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