An Israeli parliament review panel on Monday (March 27) approved for possible ratification a key bill in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contested judicial overhaul, parliamentary television showed, Reuters reports.
During a stormy Knesset Constitution Committee session on the bill that would give the religious-nationalist coalition more control over appointments of judges, various opposition lawmakers banged on the round table and yelled "shame, shame", while some were escorted out of the hall.
The head of the constitution, law and justice committee said the legislation in the committee will continue as usual, and that the coalition stands strong, "The fact that people demand to stop legislation because some groups do not accept the outcome of the elections in Israel, I think it is the most undemocratic thing one can imagine," right-wing lawmaker Simcha Rothman told Reuters.
This came a day after mass overnight protests in response to the sacking of the Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, which piled pressure on the government to halt its bitterly contested plans to overhaul the judiciary.
Along with the mass protests that shook the country, opposition leader Yair Lapid called the political turmoil 'madness' and called on Netanyahu to cancel the dismissal of Yoav Gallant.
"At this time, and amidst threats in all arenas, the state of Israel cannot itself to change of defense minister," Lapid said in a statement.
"We were never this close to falling apart," he added.
