There are growing calls
inside Israel to halt controversial plans
for judicial reforms
after the sacking
of the defense minister
and massive protests on the streets.
Thousands turned out in
Tel Aviv on Sunday
night after
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu fired Yoav Gallant
over his opposition
to a planned judicial overhaul.
Reaction to that move
has been pouring in
with Israeli President Isaac Herzog
being the latest to speak out.
In a post on Facebook,
he had this message for Netanyahu
saying, and I'm quoting,
The eyes of all
the people of Israel are on you.
The eyes of all the Jewish
people are on you.
The eyes of the whole world are on you
for the sake of the unity of Israelis,
for the sake of committed responsibility.
I call on you
to halt
the legislative procedure immediately.
And journalist Eliot Cohen was there
when the protests erupted on Sunday
and has more now from Tel Aviv.
As the saying goes, if you're
going to shoot in the morning,
you'd better not miss.
And it seems that Israel's
now ex defense minister missed
when he gave a press conference
on Saturday evening
and became the first minister
to call for a halt
to this government's judicial overhaul,
because when
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
returned for his weekend in London,
he sat galant and the result and that
is what you see behind me,
thousands and thousands of people
on the streets of central Tel Aviv
showing their support
but galant in his opposition
to the overhaul
and reiterating their opposition
to an overhaul
that would remain pretty much all checks
and balances
on the government,
allowing it to produce allies
in the Supreme Court
and preventing the Supreme Court
from striking down laws
passed by parliament,
except in very narrow circumstances.
Says now
since its announcement by Netanyahu,
since it came out
that he had sat in silence.
These people have come out
onto the streets.
They're usually out in the streets
for the past three months.
On Saturday evenings and on Thursday.
This is a Sunday evening.
They are incredibly angry
that this has happened.
We've heard from opposition
leaders like Yair Lapid
and from the prime minister
and Benny Gantz, former defense minister,
coming out and saying
that Netanyahu has crossed a red line.
Former Prime Minister Ehud
Barak has sought for Netanyahu
to step down.
The Histadrut, Israel's
main labor
union, has called for a general strike
on Monday.
So if Netanyahu thought
that sacking Garland's
was going to quash
dissent in his ranks
and put an end to opposition
to this dismal overhaul,
he was very much mistaken.
The scene
and this is any talk in Tel Aviv.
Earlier, CNN spoke
with Yaakov Katz, editor
in chief at The Jerusalem Post
about the developments in Israel.
And he weighed in on why
he thinks
Netanyahu decided
to sack his defense minister.
I think what we saw last night
when he fired Yoav Galant,
the defense minister,
was basically a decision
by Prime Minister Netanyahu.
He is moving ahead with the legislation.
They plan to bring it this morning
to finalize the piece of legislation
in the Knesset,
the parliament's committee,
and finalize it
and prepared for a vote on Wednesday
when it will be brought for a second
and third reading.
That's the final voting process
in the Israeli Knesset.
And the reason to fire Galant,
I think, is
basically to send
a shot across the bow
and to create a deterrent
to tell
any other member of the coalition.
If you dare cross me, if you dare violate
your commitment to my judicial reform,
I will fire you.
And that is meant to get other people
who might be considering doing this
in the parliament to back off.
Aaron David Miller is a
former Middle
East negotiator
for the State Department
and a senior fellow
at the Carnegie Endowment
He spent decades
working on American efforts
to broker agreements
between Israel and its neighbors.
Good morning to you, Aaron.
We appreciate you joining us.
Much of Israel
is at a standstill right now, the options
for Netanyahu at this hour.
First of all, Daryn Kagan,
thanks for having me.
Look, we're on terra
incognita, unprecedented.
You now
have a general strike
which hasn't occurred,
I think it
since the
British mandate
for a period of of this size
we've been waiting for 3 hours for Mr.
Netanyahu, the prime minister,
to make an appearance,
whose justice minister was out
earlier, basically
saying that he would accept any decision
that the prime minister made.
And Mr.
Levine,
the justice minister,
is one of the hardest line
opponents of his judicial reform.
I'd call it a judicial coup, actually.
So I think Benjamin Netanyahu risk ready
on trial
for bribery, fraud,
breach of trust
wanted this judicial reform
to neuter the court.
I think he may have no choice,
given the pressures that we've witnessed,
which are extraordinary.
Basically, at least to push for building.
Yeah, it's remarkable to hear
from the justice minister
coming out and saying that, given he
he was sort of the architect
of all of this.
But one thing that I've been thinking
of in the bigger picture of
this is how much
does this have to do,
in your view, with Netanyahu himself?
Because you can't ignore that all of this
is coming
as he's
fighting his own corruption charges
and part of this new package,
the courts would no longer be able to bar
politicians who were convicted of crimes
from serving in top government jobs.
How much do you think this does have to
do with his own recent trial?
You know, Tip O'Neill
famously said
that all politics are local
when it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu,
particularly given the fact
that he's under indictment with a trial
in a Jerusalem district court
that's now three years
of continuing to run.
All politics are personal for him.
I think this is existential.
And I think it explains
the risk
readiness, the abandonment
of caution and prudence
that have characterized
so much of Benjamin Netanyahu's career.
One step forward,
one step back, back where he really needs
his judicial reform.
I think he now has, as we understand,
that he's not going to get it.
I think five elections,
the Israelis have had in
almost four years, driven
by the fact that Mr.
Netanyahu not agree to the formation
of any government
in which he did
not have a majority in large part
because of his trial.
Yeah.
Listen, it's not just Gilad there.
At least two more Israeli ministers,
both of the same party as Netanyahu,
they suggested
halting this controversial plan as well.
The former
prime minister, Yair Lapid,
called Gallant's dismissal a new low.
And I think what he's saying is
what's happening now, he's
he wrote on Twitter
that Netanyahu
may be able to fire the minister,
but he cannot fire the people of Israel
who are standing up to the insanity
of the coalition.
That appears to be true.
You know, that is such a crucial point.
And, you know,
what's the takeaway for us?
Israel
and the US are fundamentally
different countries,
and it's hard
to compare our circumstances
but the reality is
indictments,
impeachments, investigations,
all of that
notwithstanding
what is happening
in the streets of Israel struggling
for what
many Israelis believe is
the soul of their country,
is people power.
And it's extraordinary.
It may
well it may well be one of the takeaways
despite the differences
that divide the US and Israel,
the type of system
we have,
largeness and smallness of this country.
One take away that maybe Americans
ought to consider.
What are you?
Aaron,
what do you think is going to happen?
I know you don't like to predict things.
Do you think he's going
to have to back down
or at least freeze it for a moment?
I don't you
know, Don, and
I think
the Oracle of Delphi
probably couldn't
make a prediction right now.
But I think if I had to predict,
it just seems to me
to be straining
the bounds of credulity
to the breaking point
that he won't push
for some sort of delay.
The country is in the verge of a crisis.
And while they haven't been violence,
that's always a real possibility
the longer that this could happen.
Yeah.
Aaron David Miller, thank you for that.
I mean, just the fact
that the justice minister is saying
that he'll accept whatever
Netanyahu decides could be an indication
that he may he may back off
even if it temporarily delays it.
We'll see. We'll be watching.