Israel protests put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu over controversial judicial reform plan
We want to give you a live look at Jerusalem right now, where protests are underway again. They are trying to put the pressure on Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his proposed judicial reforms. That plan will give parliament more power over the courts. The country's largest trade union has called for a general strike, and departures from Tel Aviv's main airport have been suspended. This follows mass protests overnight in response to the dismissal of Israel's defense minister, who had called for a pause on the judicial overhaul. So Anna Foster is joining us now. She's with our partners at the BBC.
She's been following the story from Jerusalem and is going to give us the latest. So Anna, when I was sort of getting caught up on this story earlier today, there have been reports that Benjamin Netanyahu was going to address the Knesset. So my question to you is, has that happened and what's been the response so far? I'm not going to say right to think that it was supposed to happen, but it hasn't. There were briefings this morning that he would address the nation, but so far no comment from Benjamin Netanyahu. But the pressure and Marie is really growing. I was with those protesters in the heart of Jerusalem until three o'clock this morning outside the Knesset. They were allowed an angry crowd.
They said that they would continue their demonstration until this controversial legislation was halted. But this morning, hour by hour, that general strike is really starting to take effect. You mentioned flights departing Ben-Gurion Airport, which have been stopped. We're now hearing that shops are closing, banks are closing, universities are on strike, the borders are closing. If this pressure continues on Benjamin Netanyahu, he will have to make some kind of statement to this nation and tell him what he plans to do next. So there have been protests going on for weeks now over this judicial reform, but things really exploded when Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister. Can you talk about why he did that and why the response was so intense? That's right.
So this is Yoav Gallant. He's a former serving soldier himself, and he has been hearing for weeks now concerns from the Israeli defense forces, particularly from reservists who had said in quite large numbers that they would refuse to be called up if this legislation were to go ahead. Now again, I was with protesting reservists on Thursday evening, and they told me they felt that Yoav Gallant hadn't been strident enough, hadn't put their concerns forward with enough power and force. And then finally, he did that on Saturday night. He went on TV here in Israel. He made a televised statement calling on his own government, Benjamin Netanyahu, his own Likud Party colleague, to pause this legislation for more dialogue to take place. And then 24 hours later, Mr.
Netanyahu sacked him, and that led to more of these demonstrations that we've seen. They've been organized so far across the last 11 or 12 weeks, but last night they were spontaneous as people poured onto the streets here in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv to make their strength of feeling felt. And Anna, just explain to us about this judicial reform, kind of the arguments for and against it. Well, Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing nationalist coalition government members say that this will stop the courts and the judiciary overreaching themselves, making decisions that they don't feel they are qualified to make. But a very large number of people in this country see it as an erosion of democracy. When you look at the pillars of any democratic society, you have the parliament, you have the government, and you have the judiciary. And they see Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners' efforts at trying to neuter the judiciary as a move away from democracy in this nation.
And that is why they have been protesting so long and so hard to try and stop that from happening. Anna, thank you very much.
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