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Israel’s defense minister calls to ‘stop the legislative process now’ on Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the courts
(JTA) — Israel’s defense minister called for a pause on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the country’s court system, dealing a potentially debilitating blow to proposals that have brought hundreds of thousands of Israeli protesters into the streets and have drawn international criticism, including from President Joe Biden and other world leaders.
Yoav Gallant, in a dramatic, 6-minute televised address Saturday night as protesters once again filled streets throughout Israel, called for a suspension of the judicial legislation, whose first major component was due to go to a final vote next week that would pass it into law. Gallant spoke at a bare podium framed by two Israeli flags and wore an Israeli flag pin on his lapel.
“For the sake of Israel’s security, for the sake of our daughters and sons, we must stop the legislative process now to allow the people of Israel to celebrate the holidays of Passover and Independence Day together, and to mourn together on Memorial Day and Holocaust Remembrance Day,” said Gallant, referencing Jewish and Israeli holidays that will take place over the course of the next month. “These are sacred days for us.”
Gallant is the most prominent ally of Netanyahu to come out against the judicial overhaul. He said that his call for a pause was spurred by the internal conflict the proposal is causing in the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces, where Gallant served as a senior general. IDF reservists have issued mounting threats that they will not report for duty if the overhaul passes, and some have already begun to absent themselves in protest.
Gallant called for broad-based negotiations over the proposal after the holidays are over, and said changes did need to be made to the judicial system. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has likewise called for dialogue and has put forward a compromise proposal.
“The growing rift in society is penetrating the IDF and the security forces,” said Gallant, who called himself a right-winger and dedicated member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party. “This is a clear, immediate and tangible threat to the security of the country. That I cannot support.”
Two coalition lawmakers immediately voiced support for Gallant, and a third is reported to back him. Those defections — four members of Netanyahu’s 64-seat coalition, would deprive the measures of the support they need to pass in Israel’s 120-seat parliament, the Knesset.
Gallant also called for the protests to end, and stressed the need for an end to threats of defection from the IDF.
“We must stop the protests and reach a hand out for dialogue,” he said. “We must stop immediately any display of refusal [to serve], which erodes the strength of the IDF and harms the defense establishment. For our security and unity we must return to the arena of dialogue and remember that we are brothers.”
The law Netanyahu hoped to pass this coming week would increase the governing coalition’s control over Supreme Court appointments. Another separate piece of legislation would effectively remove the Supreme Court’s power to review laws.
The courts have been a bulwark protecting vulnerable populations in Israel, including Arabs, women, LGBTQ people and non-Orthodox Jews. Netanyahu, in explaining frustrations that led him to embrace the changes, has mentioned how the court stopped him in 2018 from carrying out planned mass deportations of tens of thousands of African refugees.
Supporters of the overhaul say it will allow the Knesset to more effectively represent the country’s right-wing majority. Critics of the changes say that the bills, should they become law, would concentrate much of the government’s power in the hands of a single entity: the coalition.
The appeal from Gallant, a decorated soldier who rose to the rank of southern commander, may be hard for Netanyahu to ignore. The prime minister reportedly had persuaded Gallant to nix a similar speech on Thursday. Instead, Netanyahu spoke that evening, and pledged to press ahead with the overhaul.
It’s not clear what the immediate trigger was for Gallant to change his mind and deliver the speech anyway. Reporters were given just a few minutes notice of his speech, and it came close to 9 p.m.
As soon as he was done, two other members of Netanyahu’s Likud Party joined Gallant in his appeal: Yuli Edelstein, a former Knesset speaker and Soviet Jewish refusenik, and David Bitan, Netanyahu’s most outspoken critic within the party. Likud lawmaker Avi Dichter, a former head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, is also reported to back the pause.
Gallant is also the rare figure in Netanyahu’s government who has a close relationship with the Biden administration, which has kept Netanyahu at a distance since his election in November. He has played a critical role in working with his U.S. counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in mounting joint exercises seen as a deterrent to Iran — a country whose threats Gallant cited in his speech, along with other security challenges Israel faces.ֿ
Gallant ended his speech with a well-known quote from Psalms, quoted throughout Jewish liturgy: “God grant strength to his nation, God bless his nation with peace.”
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High-Stakes US Special Forces Mission Rescues Airman From Iran After F-15 Crash
FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft takes off for a mission supporting Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war at an undisclosed location, March 9, 2026. U.S. Air Force/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
US forces staged the audacious rescue of an airman behind enemy lines after Iran downed his fighter jet, officials said on Sunday, resolving a crisis for President Donald Trump as he weighs escalating the war, now in its sixth week.
The airman rescued by special operations forces, who Trump said was a colonel, was the weapons-systems officer on the downed F-15, a US official told Reuters.
“Over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History,” Trump said in a statement, adding that the airman was injured but “he will be just fine.”
The officer was the second of two crew members on the warplane that Iran said on Friday had been brought down by its air defenses. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said several aircraft were destroyed during the US rescue mission, Tasnim news agency reported.
Reuters reported on Friday that the first crew member had been retrieved, triggering a high-profile search by both Iran and the United States for the remaining airman.
Iranian officials had urged citizens to help find him, hoping to gain leverage against Washington in the war Trump and Israel launched on February 28.
Trump has threatened to escalate the conflict in the coming days with attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure.
Had Iran captured the airman, the ensuing hostage crisis could have shifted American public perception of a conflict that opinion polls show was already unpopular.
Trump said the airman was rescued “in the treacherous mountains of Iran” in what he said was the first time in military memory that two US pilots had been rescued, separately, deep in enemy territory.
The official told Reuters that as the weapons-systems officer was moved from near a mountain to a transport aircraft parked within Iran, US forces had to destroy at least one of the aircraft because it had malfunctioned.
U.S. AIRCRAFT HIT
The rescue effort, involving dozens of military aircraft, encountered fierce resistance from Iran.
Reuters reported on Friday that two Black Hawk helicopters involved in the search were hit by Iranian fire but escaped from Iranian airspace.
Separately, a pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft after it was hit over Kuwait and crashed, the officials said, though the extent of crew injuries was unclear.
Still, Trump was triumphant.
“The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies,” he said in his statement.
US air crews are trained in what to do if they go down behind enemy lines, measures known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, but few are fluent in Persian and face a challenge in staying undetected while seeking rescue.
The conflict has killed 13 US military service members, with more than 300 wounded, US Central Command says. No US troops have been taken prisoner by Iran.
While Trump has repeatedly sought to portray the Iranian military as being in tatters, they have repeatedly been able to hit US aircraft.
Reuters reported on US intelligence showing that Iran retains large amounts of missile and drone capability. Until just over a week ago, the US could only determine with certainty that it had destroyed about one-third of Iran’s missile arsenal.
The status of about another third was less clear, but bombings probably damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers, Reuters sources said.
The US and Israeli war on Iran has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands and hitting the global economy with soaring energy prices that are fueling fears of inflation.
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On Easter, Pope Leo Urges World Leaders to End Wars, Renounce Conquest
Pope Leo XIV waves from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after delivering his “Urbi et Orbi” (To the city and the world) message, on Easter Sunday at the Vatican, April 5, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Pope Leo urged global leaders in his Easter message on Sunday to end the conflicts raging across the world and abandon any schemes for power, conquest or domination.
The pope, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war, lamented in a special message to the thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square that people “are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent.”
“Let those who have weapons lay them down!” the first US pope exhorted. “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!”
Leo did not mention any specific conflicts in the message, known as the “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing. It was unusually brief and direct.
The pope said that the story of Easter, when the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead three days after not resisting his execution by crucifixion, shows that Christ was “entirely nonviolent.”
“On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars,” Leo urged.
Leo, who is known for choosing his words carefully, has been forcefully decrying the world’s violent conflicts in recent weeks and ramping up his criticism of the Iran war.
In a sermon for the Easter vigil on Saturday night, he urged people not to feel numbed by the scope of the conflicts raging across the world but to work for peace.
The pope made a rare direct appeal to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, urging him to find an “off-ramp” to end the Iran war.
In his address from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday to the Square below, decorated with thousands of brightly colored flowers for the holiday, Leo offered brief Easter greetings in ten languages, including Latin, Arabic and Chinese.
The pope also announced he would return to the Basilica on April 11 to host a prayer vigil for peace.
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Temple Mount Set for Limited Reopening to Jews and Muslims
Israeli National Security Minister and head of Jewish Power party Itamar Ben-Gvir gives a statement to members of the press, ahead of a possible ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Jan. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
i24 News – Israeli authorities are preparing to partially reopen the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to both Jewish and Muslim worshipers for the first time since the start of the war with Iran, under a tightly controlled and highly restricted security arrangement, i24NEWS has learned.
According to details obtained by i24NEWS, the Israeli police, backed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, are also expected to permit limited access for Jewish worshipers to the Western Wall as part of the same phased plan.
Under the framework, access to the Temple Mount and surrounding holy sites would be restricted to small groups of up to 150 people at a time. In the event of a missile alert, all visitors would be immediately evacuated in accordance with emergency protocols.
The decision follows a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing demonstrations in a limited format. Police argue that a consistent standard must apply across both civic gatherings and religious sites, with Ben-Gvir insisting that “there cannot be one rule for demonstrations and another for the Temple Mount.”
However, the reopening contradicts recommendations from the Home Front Command, which has advised keeping sensitive sites closed due to the ongoing risk of missile attacks.
Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin has proposed transferring authority over such security-related decisions exclusively to defense officials, an initiative that could reshape the balance between the judiciary and security establishment regarding restrictions on public access.