![]() Netanyahu’s decision to pause plans to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court in the face of the country’s biggest protest movement underscores the complex juggling act that the prime minister must perform in holding together his governing coalition, experts say. It’s also a leadership test of Israel’s longest-serving premier as he governs a deeply polarized country and faces charges of corruption. The questions swirling around the fate of Israel’s crucial Defense Ministry - which maintains Israel’s 55-year-old military occupation of the West Bank and contends with threats from Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and the Gaza Strip’s militant Hamas rulers - reflects the tensions tearing at Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition after one of the most dramatic weeks for Israel in decades. “We have a duty to calm the spirits in Israeli society and maintain an inclusive and unifying discourse,” Gallant said at the holiday toast. On Thursday, Gallant attended a celebration ahead of the Jewish Passover holiday with the director of the Shin Bet security service, his office said, releasing a photo of him smiling beside Director Ronen Bar. He greeted the Azerbaijani foreign minister, toured two military bases and attended Tuesday’s security cabinet meeting this week. Gallant’s aides said it was business-as-usual at the Defense Ministry.Īs local media this week crackled with reports of Netanyahu considering whether to replace Gallant with stalwarts of his right-wing Likud party, Gallant remained in limbo - and even so, the public face of his ministry. As of Friday, Gallant - whose criticism of Netanyahu’s planned judicial changes led to his dismissal - was still on the job. ![]() ![]() Omed, a 10-year-old boy who was the only child survivor of the wreck and whose story featured on the front page of yesterday's The Sydney Morning Herald, walked around the hotel dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, sipping a cola drink as he was led into the "Rumah Dokter", or doctor's room.JERUSALEM (AP) - Five days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defense minister set off a wave of spontaneous mass protests and a general strike that threatened to paralyze the country, forcing the Israeli leader to suspend his divisive plan to overhaul the judicial system.īut Netanyahu never even sent Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant a formal termination letter, a spokesperson for Netanyahu said. Doctors have set up a sick bay in one room, and the blistered faces of asylum seekers filed in and out yesterday, accompanied by police. The other 44 survivors are staying temporarily at a hotel in Merak, locked in their rooms by immigration authorities. One man died after being plucked from the water, his arm having been ripped off by a shark. The others are in hospital nearby, part of a group of 10 who have been hospitalised. Hameeda, 25, was one of only two or perhaps three women to survive from a boat some asylum seekers say carried as many as 165 people. Pride in her appearance, at least, had survived. Her face was blistered and swollen, her lips covered by yellow sores from the sun, her eyes closed to slits. ![]() The first thing refugee boat survivor Hameeda said when interviewed in her bed at a Merak hotel was to apologise for her appearance.
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