The political crisis in Israel is moving from one stage to another because of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on passing judicial amendments and the Knesset law. The crisis knocked on the doors of the government team itself, after Defense Minister Yoav Galant asked for the judicial amendments to be delayed, and ended up being sacked amid growing expectations that divisions within the government coalition would continue.
Prior to his dismissal, Galant had stressed that he had no intention of refraining from calling for a freeze on the judicial amendments despite all the pressure, warning of what he called an imminent threat to the State of Israel. This coincides with protests in Israel against Netanyahu's plans entering their second week, and the widening rejection of disobedience within the military.
On the future of Israel in light of these crises, writer and researcher specialized in Israeli affairs Amir Makhoul pointed out – in his interview with the program "Beyond the News" (2023/3/26) – that the situation is heading towards a collision course, while the Minister of Defense represents the position of the Israeli army, which faces a real clash with Netanyahu, amid a growing sense of the expansion of the division within the army, which makes its strategic and tactical immunity constantly eroded.
Decisive stage
Makhoul also predicted that the next phase will be decisive in Israel, noting that Netanyahu is trying by postponing his meeting with the heads of the government coalition to prevent his last trench in the Likud party from catching fire, because several leaders of the party may rebel against him.
In turn, Michelle Gale, a member of the US Democratic Party and an expert in US foreign policy, said that Israel is witnessing a crisis related to democracy, "as laws cannot be passed without popular movement," noting that Gallatt put himself in a position that may lose his political function and may be replaced, and at the American level, she saw that US President Joe Biden deals with the matter based on his responsibility towards his Democratic Party and his desire to be re-elected.
Israeli rupture
On the Israeli level, Dan Sheftan, head of the National Security Studies Program at the University of Haifa, said that Israel suffers from a serious problem because the extremist regime used to give the judiciary all the powers and powers, but now the matter is moving in another direction, as all powers are given to the government and legislators.
He saw that there is a miscalculation by Netanyahu and most members of the ruling party, as they believe that they can implement this decision without their awareness of the depth of the problems and repercussions that the situation will lead to, considering that due to internal differences, Israel remains weak and unable to respond to external risks and threats.
Sources close to Netanyahu confirmed that Gallant cannot retain his position as defense minister if he does not back down from his demand to postpone the passage of amendments to judicial legislation, as Defense Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for the dismissal of Galant, accusing him of implementing the left's agenda and giving in to media pressure and protests.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid saluted what he described as the defense minister's courage, calling on Netanyahu's government to immediately halt the judicial amendments because they threaten to dismantle Israel.