Published 27 March 2023 at 09.25
Foreign. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday after Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to fire a minister who criticized his controversial legal reform.
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In Jerusalem, both police and military moved into rowdy crowds, and fences at the prime minister's residence were torn down by furious protesters.
Water cannons were used against the protesters, BBC News reports.
Israel has been rocked by uproar over of the government's plan to overhaul the legal system to give politicians more power over judicial appointments.
The country may now be in its biggest national crisis since the Six-Day War in 1967. Earlier in March, President Isaac Herzog warned that the the whole could lead to a civil war.
The new violence erupted after the announcement that Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was being dismissed after criticizing the reform on television. Gallant cited widespread dissatisfaction with the government's plans among soldiers. Disgruntled Israeli reservists refuse to serve in the armed forces any longer.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid calls the decision to fire the defense minister “a new low-water mark” on the part of the government.
Israel's consul general in New York announced late on Sunday evening that he is resigning in protest, and Israeli universities are going on strike today.