Fighter pilot removed from post as Israeli protests against judicial reform continue
During a day of nationwide protests against controversial judicial reforms, a reserve fighter pilot was suspended, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu helicoptered to the airport to meet with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and then fly to Italy for a state visit.
Protesters blocked access to Ben Gurion Airport’s main terminal and to the Ayalon Highway, Tel Aviv’s main thoroughfare.
The pilot, identified by the Hebrew letter “Gimmel,” had been a leading voice urging other reservists to refuse training call-ups in protest against a blitz of legislation overhauling Israel’s judicial process.
Israelis demonstrate against controversial judicial reforms in Tel Aviv on March 9. Photo by Elyashiv Rakovski/TPS
“Gimmel,” the former commander of the Ramat David Air Base near Haifa, met with Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar on Wednesday evening who suspended the pilot on Thursday.
Bar told reporters, “He was suspended because he synchronised striking among the pilots. When I asked him twice, he didn’t give me the full picture. His conduct was revealed to me from a forum of air force commanders. One of them revealed to me what Gimmel did not reveal when we sat face to face. This undermining of trust caused me to suspend him.”
Bar said that Gimmel’s intentions were “irrelevant,” saying “You don’t do this without checking with the air force commander. This ruins the chain of command. I had to stop this.”
The pilot can appeal the suspension to Israeli Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi.
Meanwhile, at Ben-Gurion International Airport, protesters vowing to prevent Netanyahu from flying to Italy blocked the entrance to Terminal 3, the main terminal, with hundreds of cars.
Netanyahu avoided the blockages by flying from Jerusalem in a helicopter. Demonstrators gathered by an Air Force helicopter stationed on the helipad of a Jerusalem hospital, but the Prime Minister and his wife were flown to the airport in a police helicopter from a separate location in the capital. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the airport met with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin.
Austin left Israel immediately after the meeting and the Netanyahus departed for Italy.
The Israeli Airports Authority instructed travellers needing to reach the airport to arrive by train.
In Jerusalem, protesters placed sandbags and barbed wire around the Kohelet Institute, a think tank closely associated with the reforms.
In Haifa, protesters in boats disrupted operations at the Port of Haifa.
Protesters also blocked traffic on the Ayalon Highway, Tel Aviv’s main thoroughfare. Police eventually cleared the highway.
Police arrested eight people in Jerusalem and 15 in Tel Aviv.
Because of the protests, MK Simcha Rothman, chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, was forced to address a meeting of the National Council of the Bar Association in Tel Aviv by Zoom.
Legislation advancing through the Knesset would primarily alter the way judges are appointed and removed, give the Knesset the ability to override certain High Court rulings, restrict the ability of judges to apply standards of “reasonableness,” and change the way legal advisors are appointed to government ministries.
Supporters of the legal overhaul say they want to end years of judicial overreach, while opponents describe the proposals as anti-democratic.
Government know when they are in trouble when the defence force turns against them. I think that this the beginning of the end for the Israel PM.