Today, Sunday, the Knesset Law and Constitution Committee will resume deliberations on part of the legislation of the Israeli government’s plan to weaken the judiciary in the second and third readings, while hundreds of officers and reservists in special units are expected to start an actual refusal of military service amid fears that this will transfer to the reserve forces in arms. the weather.
And the organizers of the protests against the judicial plan announced that they will resume next Thursday with large demonstrations throughout Israel, after the demonstrations that took place in many areas yesterday. More than 170,000 people participated in the Tel Aviv demonstrations.
Today, the Law and Constitution Committee is discussing amendments to the laws of the Judges Appointment Committee and preventing the Supreme Court from exercising judicial oversight over basic laws, as well as preventing it from annulling decisions to appoint ministers known as “Dari Law 2”.
Meanwhile, settlement proposals for the judicial plan legislation put forward by Israeli President Isaac Herzog are being ignored, while the Likud party declared that “we will not freeze reform” in reference to the plan to weaken the judiciary.
The head of the Law and Constitution Committee, Simha Rotman, informed the members of the committee that its meeting today will be long, and that the deliberations will continue daily until next Wednesday, with the aim of final approval of the legislation until the end of the current winter session of the Knesset, beginning of next April.
About 450 members of the special operations units of the Military Intelligence Division, and 200 other members of the offensive cyber units in the army, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad, announced the escalation of their protest steps against the plan to weaken the judiciary, by not appearing for military service, starting today.
The Ynet website stated that dozens of military pilots and operators of unmanned aircraft in reserve announced today that they will not serve in reserve service for the next two weeks, so that they can participate in demonstrations against the plan to weaken the judiciary. A spokesman for the reserve protests said that the number of these personnel exceeds 100, and that they will stop serving in the reserves forever if the legislation of the judicial plan is approved.
The General Staff of the Israeli army is in a state of “real panic” because of the recent developments and “aftershocks that may occur in other reserve units and perhaps among officers and soldiers in regular and permanent service,” according to “Haaretz” newspaper today.
The newspaper added that a small number of reserve forces in the Military Intelligence Division will be called up for service during the next two weeks, that is, before the end of the winter Knesset session, and therefore the refusal to serve will not be felt, but the announcement of the transition to refusal of actual service may hint at a protest step announced by the pilots. Military personnel in reserve, who perform military service on a weekly basis, especially in the field of training.
The newspaper pointed out that there is an ongoing discussion among the military pilots in the reserves about the start of the refusal of active service, especially since “the operational readiness of the Air Force relies on them to a large extent.”
Protests in the Air Force would “cause immediate, actual and measurable damage” to the army’s readiness. The newspaper considered that this “development will worry anyone who fears for the security of Israel.”
In a related context, the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, summoned the commander of the Border Police unit, Amir Cohen, to a conversation of reprimand, after the latter spoke in a speech about his support for the Border Police forces that evacuated settlers from the vineyard they seized in the West Bank.
Ben Gvir told Cohen, “How can I count on you after such letters against me?” The newspaper reported that the conversation between Ben Gvir and Cohen came a month after the latter’s speech, and after Ben Gvir’s decision to dismiss the police chief in the Tel Aviv region, Ami Ished, a decision frozen by the government’s judicial advisor. Ben Gvir intended to appoint Cohen to replace Ished.
Tags: Today legislation weaken judiciary Knesset pushed final approval
