As huge crowds filed down Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street on Saturday night, many carried the national flag — the strongest possible symbol — in their 12th straight week of escalating protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition proposal to take over the judiciary, according to their demands the democratic, tolerant Jewish Israel promised in the Declaration of Independence.
Others waved a multitude of placards and banners – many of them aimed at Netanyahu and his key revolutionary henchmen, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Simcha Rothman, chair of the Constitutional, Legal and Judiciary Committee.
But some held placards with three other faces – those of Nir Barkat, Avi Dichter and Yoav Gallant – and the slogan “The Silent Lambs”.
This trio of ministers has been identified by at least some of the protesters as a potentially weak link in Netanyahu’s far-right coalition, high-ranking Likud figures who might have been expected to campaign against the dismantling of Israel’s independent court system – with the dire economic ramifications that this has should particularly concern Economy Minister Barkat, and the growing dissent in the security establishment, which should deeply trouble former Shin Bet chief Dichter and, more importantly, Defense Secretary Gallant.
But at the start of Saturday’s rally – which opened a fateful week in Israel’s history in which Netanyahu promised the Knesset will approve the law, giving the coalition near-absolute control over the choice of Israeli judges – none of the three had ministers this made public defied the drastic legislative blitz.
Barkat said he would accept the decision if the Supreme Court struck down the legislation (the obvious requirement for any law-abiding Israeli, but by no means the line the coalition would automatically follow, with Levin stating that it would defy the judges) . During a Likud faction meeting on Monday, Dichter privately expressed reservations about the extent and scope of the overhaul. And Gallant was widely expected to publicly urge a pause in the legislative process in a speech Thursday night, but was dissuaded by Netanyahu.
One after another, speakers at Saturday night’s rally – including former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, author and historian Yuval Noah Harari, and physicist and protest organizer Shikma Bressler – rose to denounce Netanyahu and swear that Israel will not be enslaved by tyrannical rulers and to urge the coalition, even at this late hour, to bring Israel back from the abyss.
Israeli military reservists carry a stuffed figure on a stretcher during a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
However, midway through the speeches, word broke that Gallant had finally spoken. Two days after agreeing to “delay” his public address to give Netanyahu time to resolve the crisis, the defense minister took a stand.
He did not repeat President Isaac Herzog’s call to “abandon” the entire legislative package. In fact, he said he supports judicial reform that would “rebalance” the branches of government. But he called for a pause in the legislative push – directly defying the prime minister and implicitly trying to force Netanyahu to put the state before himself.
And amid a wave of palpable opposition to the law changes, with increasing numbers of reservists saying they will not volunteer for active duty if the laws pass, he offered reasons that should terrify all Israelis.
After speaking extensively with officers and the base, Gallant said he encountered “unprecedented feelings of anger, pain and disappointment” at what was unfolding. “I see the source of our strength eroding,” he warned. “The growing divide in our society permeates the IDF and the security agencies. This poses a clear, immediate and tangible threat to the security of the state.”
Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi seen during a tour near the border with Lebanon, northern Israel, March 16, 2023. (David Cohen/Flash90)
The crowds on Kaplan Street weren’t quite sure what Gallant had said. Mobile phone services were, as always at such events, overwhelmed. So they depended on the speakers for updates from the world beyond the protests.
Bressler soon made one available. Gallant and poet, she announced, had called for the legislation to be halted. (In fact, Dichter reportedly only did so during a lengthy conversation with Netanyahu.)
Cheers, whistles and roars of joy broke out. But Bressler immediately warned against inappropriate euphoria or relief. “We’re not confused,” she explained. “We don’t sleep on duty. We demand that the entire legislative package be scrapped.”
Shikma Bressler addresses a protest against the government’s planned judicial overhaul in Tel Aviv, March 25, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
What Gallant had said to the nation is believed to be what he and IDF chief Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and other security chiefs have said repeatedly to the prime minister in widely leaked talks over the past few days and weeks. And those warnings, terrible as they are, have not deterred Netanyahu and his devastating cronies.
Indeed, the prime minister has defied the president, ignored the economists, misrepresented legislation in public addresses, ordered the chief of staff to crack down on the “unruly” volunteer reservists, ordered the police to crack down on roadblocks, and shook up international criticism and concerns of the US President.
The question is whether a public warning will finally make the prime minister think – a public warning to the secretary of defence; a public warning that the forthcoming radical overhaul of Israeli governance is causing divisions that pose “a clear, immediate and palpable threat to the security of the state.”
And if even that isn’t enough to stop Netanyahu, will Gallant’s evidently sincere concerns belatedly prompt enough others in the Likud to join the defense minister in blocking their leader and derailing his takeover of power?
Secretary of Defense Yoav Gallant speaks in a televised address on March 25, 2023. (With kind approval)
“I will not shake hands with him,” Yoav Gallant promised Israel on Saturday.
One of the lambs had finally broken its silence.