Israeli Consul in New York resigns after PM Netanyahu sacks defense minister | World news

Israel’s ambassador to New York said he resigned on Sunday in protest at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a controversial debate over the government’s proposed judicial reform.

“I can no longer represent this Government,” Asaf Zamir said on Twitter. “I believe it is my responsibility to ensure that Israel is at the center of democracy and freedom in the world.”

The defense minister’s resignation signaled that Netanyahu will move forward this week with the repatriation plan, which has sparked mass protests, angered military and business leaders and raised concerns among Israel’s allies. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has been the first senior member of the ruling Likud party to speak out against the plan.

In a brief statement, Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister had fired Gallant. Netanyahu later tweeted “we must all stand strong against denial.”

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Thousands of Israelis poured into the streets in protest after Netanyahu’s announcement, blocking Tel Aviv’s main artery, turning Ayalon Street into a sea of ​​blue-and-white Israeli flags and a huge bonfire in the middle of the street. Public demonstrations took place in Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, where thousands gathered outside Netanyahu’s private residence.

The decision comes less than a day after Gallant, a former top lieutenant, called for a delay in the controversial law until after next month’s Independence Day holidays, citing confusion in military ranks over the plan.

Gallant has expressed concerns that the divisions in society are hurting morale in the military and emboldening Israel’s enemies across the region. Gallant said: “I see how our source of power is being destroyed.

While many other Likud members have indicated they may follow Gallant, the party quickly closed ranks on Sunday, clearing the way for his release.

Galit Distal Atbaryan, Netanyahu’s public diplomacy minister, said Netanyahu called Gallant to his office and told him “that he no longer has faith in him and therefore he is fired.”

Gallant tweeted shortly after the announcement that “the defense of Israel has always been and always will be my life’s mission.”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Gallant’s dismissal “hurts national security and ignores the warnings of all security officials.”

“The Prime Minister of Israel is a threat to the security of the state of Israel,” Lapid wrote on Twitter.

Avi Dichter, the former director of the Shin Bet security agency, is expected to replace him. Dichter had reportedly flirted with joining Gallant but instead announced on Sunday he was backing the prime minister.

Netanyahu’s government is pushing for a parliamentary vote this week on the centralization of the restoration – a law that would give the ruling coalition the final say on all judicial appointments. It is also seeking to enact legislation that would give the legislature the authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions including increasing the base and limiting judicial review of laws.

Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore balance between the judicial and executive branches and bring back what they see as an assault court with liberal comforts.

But critics say the set of laws will remove checks and balances from Israel’s democratic system and place power in the hands of a coalition government. They also say that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, has a conflict of interest.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets over the past three months to demonstrate against the plan in the largest demonstrations in the country’s 75-year history.

Leaders of Israel’s high-tech industry have said the changes will scare off investors, senior defense officials have previously spoken out against the plan and key allies, including the United States and Germany, have expressed concerns.

In recent weeks disdain has even risen from within the Israeli army – the most popular and respected institution among Israel’s Jewish majority. A growing number of Israeli reservists, including fighter pilots, have threatened to withdraw from voluntary service in recent weeks.

Israel’s military is facing an uptick in fighting in the occupied West Bank, threats from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and concerns that arch-enemy Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapons capability.

Violence both in Israel and the occupied West Bank has escalated in the past few weeks to heights not seen in years.

Manuel Trajtenberg, head of an influential Israeli think tank, the Institute for Security Studies, said “Netanyahu can fire his defense minister, he cannot ignore the warnings he heard from Gallant.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s right-wing governing body on Sunday asked the country’s highest court to punish Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with judges of country while on trial for corruption.

The Council for Good Government in Israel, a staunch opponent of the recall, asked the court to force Netanyahu to obey the law and face either a fine or prison time for not doing so. He said he was not above the law.

“The prime minister who does not obey the court and the provisions of the law is an opportunist and an anarchist,” said Eliad Shraga, the head of the group, referring to the language that Netanyahu and his friends used against the protesters against the reform. “The Prime Minister will be forced to bow his head before the law and comply with the provisions of the law.”

The Prime Minister responded by saying that the appeal should be dismissed and said that the Supreme Court had no grounds to intervene.

Netanyahu has been prevented by the country’s attorney general from directly complying with his government’s plan to reform the judiciary, based on the dispute of the interest agreement to which he is committed, and which the Supreme Court recognized in the judgment on Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while under investigation for corruption. Instead, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidante of Netanyahu, is leading the overhaul.

But on Thursday, after parliament passed a law that makes it harder to remove a sitting prime minister, Netanyahu said he was unfazed by the attorney general’s decision and vowed to step into the crisis and “renew the separation”. in the country. That announcement prompted the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, to warn that Netanyahu was breaking his diplomatic pact by entering the conflict.

The pace of legal and political developments has pushed Israel into uncharted territory and into a looming constitutional crisis, said Guy Lurie, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.

“We are at the beginning of a constitutional crisis in the sense that there is a dispute over the source of authority and the right of different governing bodies,” he said.

Netanyahu is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases involving wealthy associates and powerful media professionals. He denied wrongdoing and dismissed critics who said he would try to find a way out of the allegations by reforming the law.