Maria João Tomás, an international relations researcher at ISCTE, warns that Israel may be on the verge of a civil war after the resignation of the Defense Minister, who was from Benjamin Netanyahu’s party.
“I see this as Israel on the brink of civil war, for very simple reasons. The entire population is against the government, against the majority of Netanyahu. Now he has fired the defense minister and that leads to the question of the military, which is the defense minister. The Minister was from a party that supported a softer, not so drastic change in legislation, ”he explained to TSF Maria Joao Tomas.
Despite the protests, the researcher does not believe that Benjamin Netanyahu will leave power easily.
“He is very attached to power. Last week he managed to approve the law that allows him not to be suspended from his duties, except in case of insanity, which proves it. He has that concern because he knows that there is a high probability that he will be arrested and that is the only way that he can stay in power, that is the alliance that he has with the extreme right and the judicial reform that he is carrying out. just. He will stay in power until the end, until he can’t take it anymore,” believes the ISCTE international relations researcher.
Workers from various economic and social sectors in Israel went on strike on Monday in another attempt to increase pressure on Netanyahu so that the executive he leads discards the judicial reform plan.
The immediate general strike was called this morning by the leader of the Histadrut during a press conference in which he demanded an end to the judicial reform announced by the Government, which deeply divides the country.
Immediately after the announcement of the strike, Israel’s airport authorities indicated that flights scheduled to depart from the country’s main international airport were cancelled.
The judicial reform triggered one of Israel’s most serious internal crises by uniting the opposition, business leaders, magistrates and court officials, academics, intellectuals, students and even the country’s military.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog today called on Netanyahu to “act responsibly and courageously” and end “immediately” the legislative process of the controversial judicial reform that divides the country.
The centerpiece of the review is a law that will give the ruling coalition the final say on all judge appointments, including to the Supreme Court, and will also allow it to appoint politicians to government legal advisory positions.
Other laws included in the reform give parliament the possibility of annulling, by simple majority, decisions of the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ), limiting judicial review of laws and even their revocation by the country’s highest judicial body, even if it is the considered unconstitutional.
Netanyahu and his coalition partners have argued that the bill will restore balance in the relationship between the executive and judiciary, allowing the government to control what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.
But critics warned that the laws in the judicial reform bill would remove Israel’s system of checks and balances, ending the separation of powers that underpins any rule of law, and concentrating power in the hands of the ruling coalition, and they added that Netanyahu, on trial on corruption charges, has a clear conflict of interest.
Source: TSF
