URGENCE. Le président israélien Isaac Herzog a déclaré, dimanche, que « le pays est déchiré par une profonde division ». Ce soir une situation extraordinaire inquiète les israéliens. L’opposition à la réforme de Netanyahou est de plus en plus forte. Le Président israélien oblige le Premier Ministre à négocier. Dans les prochaines heures on saura si Netanyahou va céder où pas. Il est clair qu’il risque d’être démis de sa fonction par la Cour Suprême.
Isaac Herzog a prononcé ce soir un « discours spécial à la nation » en plein débat, de plus en plus houleux, sur la refonte du système judiciaire annoncée par le gouvernement Netanyahu.
Herzog a exhorté les parties à dialoguer sur le projet de réforme, ce à quoi le Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu et les membres de son gouvernement ont insisté y être pleinement disposés, bien qu’ils se soient également engagés à ne pas ralentir leurs efforts.
Isaac Herzog : « Les fondements de la démocratie israélienne, y compris le système judiciaire, sont sacrés et nous devons les sauvegarder strictement, même à l’heure des arguments et des débats fondamentaux sur la relation entre les différentes branches du gouvernement ».
A SAVOIR. LPH. « Le mouvement pour un pouvoir de qualité, dirigé par l’avocat Me Eliyad Shraga, a déposé une requête devant la Cour suprême pour que Binyamin Netanyahou soit suspendu de ses fonctions de Premier ministre, au motif qu’il ne peut pas s’occuper de la réforme judicaire, étant lui-même mis en examen. Ce mouvement et son président avaient fait partie des militants les plus engagés lors des manifestations hebdomadaires rue Balfour à Jérusalem avant que Binyamin Netanyahou ne perde son poste de Premier ministre au profit de Naftali Bennett et Yaïr Lapid. Par la suite, pendant tout le mandat du gouvernement précédent, le mouvement avait cessé toutes ces actions pour les reprendre donc, avec l’avènement du gouvernement actuel ».
SELON JPost : « The planned judicial reform raises grave concern for the future of Israeli democracy, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a « special address to the nation » delivered on Sunday evening, announcing a five-point plan to kickstart a process of dialogue between the nation’s leaders.
Herzog has been acting behind the scenes for weeks in order to bring the sides to the negotiating table, and proposed a plan on February 10 in which the government would halt the coalition’s legislative process in order for the supporters and detractors of the reform to meet and begin negotiations at the president’s residence.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin rejected the plan, saying on Channel 13 last week that he would not halt the legislation « even for a second. »
Leader of the opposition and Yesh Atid Party chair MK Yair Lapid, National Unity chair MK Benny Gantz, Yisrael Beytenu chair MK Avigdor Liberman and Labor chair MK Merav Michaeli said in a statement on Sunday, « This is a state of emergency, we will not allow for the destruction of the State of Israel. We will stand together at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow (Monday) in the Knesset for a joint statement. »
Missing from the announcement were the two leaders of the Israeli Arab parties, Ra’am’s Mansour Abbas and Hadash-Ta’al’s MK Ayman Odeh.
Abbas said that he was invited to participate in the statement but decided not to, while emphasizing that he opposed the reforms. Odeh was not invited, reportedly because Hadash-Ta’al had made deals with the Likud regarding its allocation of seats in Knesset committees, and was not actively a part of the opposition.
Odeh said in response, « For delegitimization of Arabs, Bibi was enough. Maybe it is time to stop lying and start leading? When we tried to bring the Defendants Bill [to bar an MK in criminal proceedings from forming a government] you refused. Your government has already fallen apart, now facing fascism you want to take apart the opposition as well? »
« I wish this morning to harshly criticize the calls to break the law, for civil disobedience, intentional harm to the economy, and even use of weapons, by those who oppose the government’s policy. The government received the people’s trust in the democratic election and received a clear mandate from the citizens of Israel. No one is disputing the right to protest, but it is not possible and prohibited to call for violence, act violently, call for civil disobedience, or force a strike on many who do not want it, » the prime minister said.
« I wish this morning to harshly criticize the calls to break the law, for civil disobedience, intentional harm to the economy, and even use of weapons, by those who oppose the government’s policy. The government received the people’s trust in the democratic election and received a clear mandate from the citizens of Israel. No one is disputing the right to protest, but it is not possible and prohibited to call for violence, act violently, call for civil disobedience, or force a strike on many who do not want it. »
Benjamin Netanyahu
He went on to argue that during the disengagement from Gaza in 2005, the right-wing camp did not behave in the same way, condemning calls not to join the IDF or any use of weapons.
« I call on the opposition to behave responsibly. We can argue, we can talk, we can and need to propose alternatives – but we cannot cross red lines. The crossing of red lines in recent days by extreme elements has one clear purpose: to lead to anarchy, » Netanyahu said, concluding by calling on everyone to « lower the height of the flames. »
Likud MK blames High Court president for terror attack
Likud MK Tali Gottlieb charged on Twitter on Sunday morning that High Court of Justice Chief Justice Esther Hayut was responsible for Friday’s terror attack.
« I blame her for the feeling of chaos among the people of Israel, I blame her for the destruction and severe damage to democracy and the rule of law. She scared [people] regarding a right-wing government. Not because of the [judicial] reform. So what if there will be chaos here, so what if our enemies will attack us because they will identify weakness amongst us, everything is legitimate in order to topple a right-wing government, » Gottlieb wrote.
Netanyahu put out a short statement against the Tweet, but Gottlieb later repeated her claim, accusing Hayut of « scaring people because of legitimate actions of the right-wing government using very harsh words, » as well as « sedition of half of the people against the other half. »
« By doing so you are creating chaos among us and surely awakening the terrorists within us to bring about destruction, » she said.
Levin also heavily criticized the High Court on Sunday morning, but for a different reason – its decision not to reject out of hand an appeal by the Movement of Quality Government in Israel calling on the attorney-general to declare Netanyahu « incapacitated » due to the conflict of interest between his ongoing trial and the judicial reforms.
« A group of jurists that do not respect the result of the election are acting now in order to launch a coup d’etat and declare Prime Minister Netanyahu incapacitated, » Levin said.
« It is not surprising that the people in this move are the same who are leading the opposition to the judicial reform: The left-wing organization called the Movement of Quality Government, the attorney-general and the High Court.
« An attempt to remove a prime minister illegally, while trampling a democratic election, is no different than a coup d’etat carried out with tanks. The intent is the same, and the result is the same.
« We will not enable this coup d’etat, which emphasizes how necessary the reform of the legal system is. A reform that will bring back democracy and the checks and balances between the government’s branches, » the justice minister concluded.
The movement said in response that it was an organization that acted on behalf of proper governance in both right-wing and left-wing governments, and it called on Levin to apologize or to remove his legal immunity so that the issue could be « clarified in court. »
