Israel in Political Crisis

Huge spontaneous protests broke out in Israel overnight Sunday when Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that Yoav Gallant was fired as Defence Minister at around 10pm. The protests lasted until nearly 4am Monday morning and are in the process of gathering pace again.

The northbound Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv is blocked again this morning. It is also reported that Ben Gurion airport is closed as a result of a general strike announced by the trade unions.

Stores in shopping centres around the country have closed as part of the same strike. Banks have said they are closing branches and local councils have joined the action. But schools and kindergartens will stay open for the rest of the day.

This situation was triggered when Yoav Gallant made a public call on Saturday for the government to stop its legislative efforts to rebalance governing power between the parliament and the judiciary. He wants proposals to be amended so as to achieve broad agreement on the rebalancing of power.

That call prompted Netanyahu, upon his return from the UK, to fire Gallant as reported here by i24 News.