A turning point in Israel

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2023

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

Nationwide strikes and protests erupted in Israel as outrage grew over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the country’s courts. Many saw the move as a threat to Israel’s democracy. And on Monday, Netanyahu announced he would put the plan on pause.

For months, Israelis have rallied against the country’s right-wing government as it tries to force a drastic overhaul of the Supreme Court. But protests intensified when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, after Gallant criticized Netanyahu’s judiciary reform.

The country was at a standstill as Israeli universities, workers’ unions, hospitals, malls and Israel’s national air carrier, El Al, announced a general strike and the international airport terminated outgoing flights indefinitely.

And it seems the protests had an effect. On Monday, after a long day of protests, Netanyahu announced a delay to the judicial reform proposal.

The Washington Post’s Steve Hendrix in Jerusalem walks us through what happened, what this means for Israel and what might come.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Democracy, democracy, democracy.
0:07.0	Today, that was the rallying cry of thousands of protesters in Israel.
0:19.0	I just left the protest near the Knesset and the Supreme Court building about a mile from here in the crowds of the larger.
0:27.0	Easy to imagine that any kind of interaction with police could turn quite dangerous.
0:34.0	Steve Hendrix is reporting in Jerusalem for the post.
0:38.0	He was watching Monday as crowds gathered in front of the Knesset, Israel's legislative body.
0:44.0	For months, Israelis have rallied against the country's right-wing government as it tries to force a drastic overhaul of the Supreme Court.
0:52.0	But things took a dramatic turn on Monday when strikes brought Israel to a halt.
0:57.0	And when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he would be putting its controversial judicial plan on pause.
1:05.0	It's quite a scene of Pugel and Pandemonium here among the protesters in front of Prime Minister Netanyahu's residents.
1:15.0	The dancing and the drumming have been going on pretty much all day.
1:19.0	But a look at after eight o'clock, the people in the crowd began looking at their phones.
1:24.0	Then pretty soon, a huge cheer erupted.
1:28.0	People began pumping their flags in the fists in the air.
1:32.0	No one's leaving. This looks like they're going to be out here for quite some time.
1:40.0	From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports.
1:44.0	I'm Chris Velasco, your guest host.
1:47.0	Today, the crisis of democracy in Israel.
1:52.0	On Monday, Israelis shut down the country with protests and strikes.
1:57.0	In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the only thing that could be seen was the police.
2:06.0	Today, the crisis of democracy in Israel.
2:11.0	On Monday, Israelis shut down the country with protests and strikes.
	...

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