After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his cabinet’s defence minister, protesters swarmed the streets of Tel Aviv late Sunday night. People chanted “democratice” and blocked streets and bridges, including the Ayalon Highway, a major intracity freeway. In Jerusalem, near Netanyahu’s house, police used water cannons on the demonstrators.
The mass protests, which quickly turned violent, came a day after Defence minister Yoav Gallant had called for a halt to Netanyahu’s controversial plans to overhaul the justice system. On Sunday, Netanyahu sacked Gallant, and the news led to people taking to the streets, waving blue and white Israeli flags.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided this evening to dismiss Defence Minister Yoav Gallant,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
The planned judicial reforms will hand more power to the government in deciding the appointment of judges. The reform will also make it harder for courts to remove a leader deemed unfit for office, a move that seemed to be in the interest of Netanyahu who is currently on trial on charges of corruption.
On Saturday, Gallant, a former navy admiral, warned that the overhaul plans risked “a clear, immediate and tangible threat to the security of the state”.
“At this time, for the sake of our country, I am willing to take any risk and pay any price,” Gallant said in his televised address.
In doing so, he became the first member of the cabinet to raise his voice against the controversial plans to overhaul the country’s court system. After being fired, Gallant tweeted, Gallant, “The state of Israel’s security has always been and will always be my life’s mission.”
The opposition also slammed Netanyahu for dismissing a minister over the judicial reform.
“State security cannot be a card in the political game. Netanyahu crossed a red line tonight,” opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz said in a joint statement.
After protesting outside Netanyahu’s house, and managing to breach a security cordon, the crowds moved to the parliament, the Knesset.