The General Union of Workers of Israel, The largest union in the country, announced on Monday the call for a general strike that would spread to countless sectors of the economy and to the main hospitals in the country if the government does not paralyze the judicial reform that seeks to give more power to the legislature for the sake of judges.
The decision was announced by the president of the entity, Arnon Bar-David, after two consecutive days of massive protests against the reform of the government of the prime minister. Benjamin Netanyahu, who dismissed his Defense Minister this Sunday for asking to temporarily stop this controversial legislation in the face of social division. “I did everything I could during the last few weeks to avoid this situation,” Bar-David said after clarifying that the strike would start imminently if Netanyahu does not announce the interruption of the reform today.
Besides, the union of workers of the international airport of Ben Gurion, in Tel Aviv, announced that the take-off of planes was interrupted immediately, also as a protest.
This is in addition to the decision yesterday of the country’s universities to interrupt classes starting today and the threat from a group of mayors and municipal leaders to start a hunger strike.
It is expected that Netanyahu makes an appearance in the next few hours with an important announcement, with multiple analysts anticipating the interruption of the legislative process that has triggered massive demonstrations for three months.
Local media reported, however, that The president faces a crisis within his government regarding this decision, after threats from far-right parliamentarians to leave the coalition in case the reform is stopped.
This comes on the heels of historic impromptu demonstrations last night, with a record over 650,000 Israelis filling the streets across the country chanting “democracy, democracy” against the dismissal of Defense Minister, Yoav Gallantwho last Saturday became the first member of the Government to ask to stop the reform.
This morning, the Israeli president, isaac herzogmade an urgent appeal to Netanyahu, to “act responsibly and courageously” and stop “immediately” the legislative proceedings.
The organizers of the protests called new demonstrations for this Monday and a crowd is expected to gather this afternoon in front of the Parliament in Jerusalem.
The controversial judicial reform seeks to grant more power to the Executive to the detriment of Justice, whose independence would be undermined and would limit the supervisory capacity of the Supreme Court.
Despite criticism from countless quarters and warnings of its impact not only on the separation of powers but also on Israel’s economy, the government continues to push forward with some of the pillars of the reform, including a law that would grant control of de facto to the Government on the selection committee of judges.
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