The chaos in Israel has caused such alarm that the country’s President Isaac Herzog, as it was announced, appealed to the government of Benjamin Netanyahu with a request to abandon the judicial reform, which stirred up a large part of the population. “For the sake of the unity of the people of Israel, for the sake of responsibility, I ask you to immediately stop the legislative process,” the president wrote on his Twitter profile. The exception is that the head of state has taken this initiative because his role is ceremonial.

The Duke urged the heads of the Israeli parliamentary groups (Knesset) “both the coalition and the opposition” to “put the country’s citizens above all else and act responsibly and courageously without further delay.” He added: “We are in a moment of leadership and responsibility.”

In a dramatic tone, he emphasized that “security, the economy, society, everything is under threat. The eyes of all the people of Israel are on you. The eyes of the entire Jewish people are on you. The whole world is looking at you.”

The prime minister was due to issue a statement early Monday morning, but it was delayed by tensions in the cabinet between the extremists themselves, who call the protesters “anarchists” and unwilling to give up, and those who see it as necessary to back down. .

The most important trade union in the country, the Histadrut, has announced that it will go on strike if the government does not reverse the reform. Ben Gurion Airport takes part in the strike. Flights canceled this Monday. The population is using every moment to demonstrate their strong defense of democracy and their rejection of what they see as the end of the separation of powers. At the train station, reports say Israelis chanted “democracy” as they headed to work on Monday. newspaper.

The most contentious aspects of the reform concern the fact that a simple majority of 61 votes out of 120 seats in the Knesset can annul nearly all Supreme Court judgments and that politicians can appoint a majority of judges. Justice Minister Yariv Levin and religious Zionist Simcha Rothman, who heads the Law and Justice Commission in Kesset, are great advocates of these modifications.

Both see the Supreme Court as too powerful and contrary to the settler movement and Israel’s ultra-religious community. These measures will benefit Netanyahu as he can avoid being prosecuted in the corruption trial, according to Bethan McKernan in Guardian.

The US government showed itself “deeply disturbed” by the events that took place on Sunday after the announcement of the departure of the secretary of defense from the government. US Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Adrienne Watson “urged the Israeli leadership to reach an agreement as soon as possible.”

“Democratic societies are strengthened by checks and balances, and fundamental changes to a democratic system must be made with the widest possible support from the population,” the spokesman said, as can be read in a statement quoted by Europa Press.

Israel’s consul in New York, Asaf Zamir, submitted his resignation this Sunday in protest against the government’s proposal to approve a controversial reform of the judiciary. “The time has come to join the fight for the future of Israel, so that it remains a beacon of democracy and freedom in the world,” the consul pointed out through his Twitter profile.