Workers from a range of sectors in Israel launched a nationwide strike on Monday, March 27, 2023, threatening to paralyze the economy as they joined a surging protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary.
Departing flights from the country’s main international airport were grounded, large mall chains and universities shut their doors, and Israel’s largest trade union called for its 800,000 members; in health, transit, banking and other fields, to stop work.
Diplomats walked off the job at foreign missions, local governments were expected to close the preschools they run and cut other services, and the main doctors union announced its members would also strike.
The growing resistance to Netanyahu’s plan came hours after tens of thousands of people burst into the streets around the country in a spontaneous show of anger when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly fired his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant on Sunday, March 26, 2023, after Gallant called for a pause to the judicial overhaul.
Chanting “the country is on fire,” they lit bonfires on Tel Aviv’s main highway, closing the thoroughfare and many others throughout the country for hours.
Tens of thousands of protesters also gathered on Monday outside the Knesset, or parliament, to keep up the pressure.
The protesters say that they are fighting for the very soul of the nation, saying the overhaul will remove Israel’s system of checks and balances and directly challenge its democratic ideals.
The firing of Israeli Defense Minister at a time of heightened security threats in the West Bank and elsewhere, appeared to be a last straw for many, including apparently the Histadrut, the country’s largest trade union umbrella group, which had sat out the month-long protests before the Defense Minister’s firing on Sunday, March 26, 2023.
“Where are we leading our beloved Israel? To the abyss,” Arnon Bar-David, the group’s head, said in a rousing speech to applause. “Today we are stopping everyone’s descent toward the abyss,” he added.
The overhaul, driven by Netanyahu, has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. It has sparked sustained protests that have galvanized nearly all sectors of society, including its military, where reservists have increasingly come out publicly to say they will not serve a country veering toward autocracy.
Israeli President Calls For An Immediate Halt To The Judicial Overhaul
Also on Monday, Israel’s Ceremonial President, Isaac Herzog, called again for an immediate halt to the overhaul.
“I appeal to the Prime Minister, the members of the government and members of the coalition; all the nation is surrounded by concerns. Security, economy, society, all under threat. The eyes of all the people of Israel are on you; the eyes of all Jews are on you; the eyes of the world are on you.
“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… This is not a moment of politics, this is a moment of leadership and responsibility.”
Isaac Herzog
Opposition leader, Yair Lapid said the crisis was driving Israel to the brink.
“We’ve never been closer to falling apart. Our national security is at risk, our economy is crumbling, our foreign relations are at their lowest point ever, we don’t know what to say to our children about their future in this country. We have been taken hostage by a bunch of extremists with no brakes and no boundaries.”
Yair Lapid
Netanyahu had reportedly spent the night in consultations and was set to speak to the nation, but later delayed his speech. Some members of Netanyahu’s Likud party disclosed that they would support the Prime Minister if he heed calls to halt the overhaul.
The architect of the plan, Justice Minister, Yariv Levin, a popular party member, was long a holdout, promising he would resign if the overhaul was suspended. However on Monday, he said that he would respect the Prime Minister’s decision should he halt the legislation.
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