On the ground of Israel’s historic protests as judicial reforms paused:'This is our 1948 all over again’

The CJN Daily is publishing a special breaking-news podcast due to the momentous events happening on the ground in Israel.

A labour strike called by the Histadrut over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s slate of reforms shut down much of Israel on Monday. That means Ben Gurion airport, stores, buses, universities and schools were all abruptly closed—along with Israeli embassies and consulates around the world, including in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.

Massive protests were held Sunday across Israel, and these continued Monday outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, where Netanyahu and his coalition colleagues met to decide next steps. In a statement late Monday March 27 Israel time, Netanyahu agreed to pause the judicial legislative package immediately, to avoid “civil war, but vowed to push ahead later this spring after the Knesset recesses for Passover.

Protestors feel the reforms to the Supreme Court and other laws that would shelter convicted politicians – undermine Israel’s democracy. The country’s now-former defence minister Yoav Gallant even warned on the weekend that all the anger against the Netanyahu government poses a serious threat to Israel’s safety, but he was quickly fired on Sunday for making the comments.

And in the middle of it are two Canadian journalists and analysts based in the Tel Aviv area who haven’t slept in the past 24 hours.

Aron Heller was a correspondent for the Associated Press covering Israeli for 15 years, and now works as a freelance journalist specializing in tech, defence and security. Vivian Bercovici was Canada’s ambassador to Israel from 2014 to 2016, appointed by former prime minister Stephen Harper. She is now the editor-in-chief of a startup news platform, State of Tel Aviv.

Heller and Bercovici each joined early Monday before Netanyahu’s announcement with their takes on the political turmoil, security risks and what Canadian Jews in the diaspora should do right now.

What we talked about

• Read more analysis from Vivian Bercovici on The State of Tel Aviv.com
• Follow Aron Heller’s articles and feature stories on his website.
• Read Lila Sarick’s story in The CJN about the protest Sunday in Toronto by Israeli and Canadian Jews.

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.

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