- Title: Mass protests erupt across Israel after Netanyahu sacks MoD
- Date: 26th March 2023
- Summary: JERUSALEM (MARCH 26, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING ISRAELI FLAGS OUTSIDE ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU'S PRIVATE RESIDENCE, CHANTING POLICE STANDING IN FRONT OF PROTESTERS (AUDIO: MAN CHANTING (Hebrew): 'WE WILL TOPPLE THE GOVERNMENT, YOU TOOK ON THE WRONG GENERATION') VARIOUS OF POLICE USING WATER CANNON IN AN ATTEMPT TO DISPERSE PROTESTERS WHO ARE CHANTING (Hebrew): 'SHAME' POLICE WATER CANNON TRUCK BACKING AWAY FROM PROTESTERS
- Embargoed: 9th April 2023 21:52
- Keywords: Benjamin Netanyahu Israel Jerusalem Yoav Gallant demonstration judiciary protest
- Location: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL/ JERUSALEM
- City: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL/ JERUSALEM
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Middle East,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA003040926032023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Mass protests erupted across Israel and in Jerusalem on Sunday (March 26), shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he dismissed Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Gallant's dismissal was announced a day after he broke ranks with the government and urged a halt to a highly contested plan to overhaul the judicial system.
As news of the dismissal spread, thousands of protesters, many waving blue and white Israeli flags, took to the streets in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
In Tel Aviv, protesters flocked to the central Israeli main highway Ayalon, blocking traffic for hours and setting up bonfires along the multi-lane road on both directions.
In Jerusalem, crowds gathered outside Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, at one point breaching a security cordon.
Some three months since taking office, Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition has been plunged into crisis
over the bitter divisions exposed by its flagship judicial overhaul plans.
"State security cannot be a card in the political game. Netanyahu crossed a red line tonight," opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz said in a joint statement.
They called on members of Netanyahu's Likud party not to have a hand in "the crushing of national security."
In announcing Gallant's dismissal, Netanyahu's office did not name a replacement nor give any other details.
Earlier this month, President Isaac Herzog, the head of state who is supposed to remain above politics, warned that the country faced "disaster" unless a broader consensus could be reached on how to overhaul the judiciary.
(Production: Rami Amichay, Dedi Hayun, Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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