Former PM Ehud Barak: Israel in 'immediate danger'

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak has warned that Israel is facing “real danger” and said that Israelis should resist the current regime, which demonstrates further escalation in political division in the Israeli internal arena.

Speaking at a conference where leaders of Israel's protest movement gathered to address the Netanyahu-led cabinet's advancing judicial coup, Barak said that just as soldiers have a duty to refuse illegal orders, Israelis are obligated to resist an illegitimate regime. 

Barak said Israel is in “immediate danger” from an impending dictatorship headed by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He called on Israelis to resist “with all legitimate means at their disposal."

Meanwhile, leader of Israel's opposition Yair Lapid spoke at the conference, and charged the current regime with carrying out a coup, describing it as "more than a question about the supreme court, or the judicial appointments committee," and said "it is an attack on our families, our children and our way of life."

In an on-stage interview led by Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn, Israel's former "justice minister" Gideon Sa'ar rejected Israeli president Isaac Herzog's calls for negotiations between the cabinet and the opposition, saying, "There is no room for talks as long as the legislative process continues."

Thousands of protesters have been holding massive rallies across the occupied territories in protest against a so-called judicial reforms plan proposed by Netanyahu’s far-right coalition cabinet, as lawmakers prepare to vote on the first reading of the legislation at the regime's parliament.

The proposed controversial reforms would give politicians greater power to appoint judges and more control of appointments to the supreme court bench.

Opponents to the Netanyahu reforms argue that the legal changes threaten the independence of judges and weaken oversight of the ruling cabinet and parliament. They also say the plan will undermine the rights of minorities and open the door to more corruption.

Earlier in January, the former Israeli minister of military affairs Benny Gantz and former prime minister Lapid criticized the new cabinet’s policies, saying that Netanyahu would be responsible for the breakout of an internal war.

In response, Knesset member Zvika Fogel called for the arrest of Gantz and Lapid on “charges of treason”.

 Almog Cohen, another Knesset member, told Israeli channel 13 in an interview that “if Lapid and Gantz do not stop dividing, inciting, and calling for bloodshed on the streets, they will be arrested.”

Netanyahu was indicted for receiving bribe, fraud, and breach of trust during the twilight of his previous mandate as premier in 2019. His detractors consider the so-called judicial reforms to be a vehicle for him to circumvent the repercussions of his corruption scandal.

His coalition, however, claims that the reforms are needed to curb what it calls overreach by judges.

Netanyahu was reinstated as premier after stitching together a coalition of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, dubbed as the most extremist in the history of the Israeli apartheid regime.

His allies include the Religious Zionism formation and Jewish Power Party, whose leaders Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir oppose Palestinian statehood and both have a history of inflammatory remarks about Palestinians.

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