Is Netanyahu Caving to the Protesters?

On Saturday night, March 25th, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made a speech calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the judicial reforms until a compromise could be reached. 

He said, “In the past few weeks, something has happened. I am concerned by what I hear in the field. I have never encountered such powerful anger and pain as I see now. The IDF has been damaged. The split in society has penetrated the IDF and this is a clear, immediate and concrete danger to the security of the state. I will not lend a hand to this.”

The next morning, Netanyahu announced that he was firing the Defense Minister. Gallant’s controversial speech was the entire reason for this, but I think this was sort of the “last straw” for Netanyahu. Gallant had some very left-leaning policies that simply didn’t align with Netanyahu. 

Of course, the leftists immediately slammed Netanyahu, saying that he was actually proving himself a dictator by firing those he dislikes. The reality is, however, that ministers have been fired for far less than this in the past. The protesters were also not happy about this move. They called for a week of “paralysis” and tried to shut down the country. Businesses and restaurants started closing, and all flight departures were halted for a few hours. Tens of thousands of protesters blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, while others in Jerusalem broke through the police barricades and marched towards the Prime Minister’s residence. 

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, who is not supposed to be involved in politics at all, also called on Netanyahu to halt the judicial reforms. 

He said, “Tonight we saw some very difficult scenes. I’m turning to the prime minister, the government, and the members of the coalition: The emotions are difficult and painful. Deep anxiety is engulfing the people. The security, the economy, the society, everything is threatened. The eyes of all the people of Israel are turned to you.”

The Biden administration also called for a compromise, President Biden himself saying, “Like many strong supporters of Israel, I am very concerned [by the judicial reform plan]. I am concerned that they get this straight. They cannot continue down this road. I have sort of made that clear. I hope he walks away from it.”

In the face of all this pressure, Netanyahu decided to freeze the judicial reform package. 

He announced that, “Out of national responsibility, from a desire to prevent the nation from being torn apart, I am calling to suspend the legislation. When there is a possibility to prevent a civil war through negotiations, I will give a timeout for negotiations.”

So to answer the question: is Netanyahu caving to the protesters? I would say both yes and no. Yes; in the fact that he froze the judicial reforms after he saw that the country could completely shut down if he didn’t act, and no; in the fact that he is only temporarily halting these reforms. 

Netanyahu said that he is shelving the judicial reforms until the Knesset’s summer session, which starts in the beginning of May, so I believe that he is simply trying to wait until things calm down a little before continuing his move of pushing forward these much needed reforms.