Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz calls for demonstrations against judicial reform

9 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity party, on Monday called on the population to demonstrate against the new judicial reform announced by the right-wing coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Go out and fight for what you believe in: against the demolition of democracy,” Gantz said, adding that it is “time to shake the country,” as judicial reform would lead to “civil war within Israeli society.” , as reported by the newspaper ‘The Times of Israel’.

The leader of the National Unity party has explained that this measure “will have a fatal impact on national security.” Likewise, he has alluded to the corruption cases in which Netanyahu is involved, which would have pushed the Likud to promote said reform.

“If you believe that a legal injustice has been committed against you, do not correct it with an injustice to the State of Israel and Israeli society. This is an unpatriotic and anti-Zionist act,” said the former Israeli Defense Minister.

The changes proposed by the head of the Justice portfolio, in the event that they are approved by the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), would give the government control over the judicial selection committee and limit the authority of legal advisers.

Israel’s new justice minister, Yariv Levin, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, believes that judicial activism has destroyed trust in the justice system, which is why governments cannot govern effectively.

For his part, the former prime minister and current head of the opposition Yair Lapid previously assured that this proposal “is not a legal reform”, but “a threatening letter”. “They are threatening to destroy the entire constitutional structure of the State of Israel,” he denounced, branding the new government “as a gang of criminals.”