Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told certain ministers that if no compromise was reached regarding the proposed judicial reform, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will resign from the government, Monday reports from Ynet and N12 alleged.
Per the report, Netanyahu and Gallant in the past two weeks held a number of difficult conversations, as Gallant argued that the tensions between the IDF and the government caused by the judicial reform controversy were becoming too much.
The defense minister reportedly fears that the refusal to serve, which began with airforce officers and spread to reservists, would continue to spread throughout the IDF. Netanyahu thus assessed that if no compromise was reached, Gallant would likely resign.
"The call for refusal is dangerous," said Gallant on Monday at the IDF's annual operational forum. "A widespread phenomenon of [refusal of military service] could harm the IDF's ability to carry out its tasks."
"Together with the Chief of Staff, the members of the general staff and and with you - the commanders...I am working to keel the IDF above any political debate....The IDF belongs to all of us, and we must protect it at all costs.
"The IDF is the defensive tool of the State of Israel; without it, the State of Israel and its citizens cannot survive. [Refusal of military service] eats away at our basic foundation."
"Softening" of the judicial reform
It is unclear what Gallant's position is currently, after the coalition's proposal to "soften" the judicial reform, which was announced late Sunday night.
The coalition announced that it would delay all of the judicial reform bills until after the Knesset's Passover recess, save for the bill to change the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee. The coalition will have a majority in the new committee but will only be able to appoint two High Court justices on coalition votes alone per Knesset term, the new proposal posits.
"Now that it is clear that this is no softening but instead an attempt at a hostile takeover of the judicial system," wrote leaders of the anti-judicial reform protest movement in a statement on Monday.
"We expect that Gallant will announce that he will vote against [it] and resign from his position if the Judicial Selection Committee bill is brought to a vote. Otherwise, the rift in the [IDF] will be his responsibility and his duty [to mend]."
Former defense minister MK Benny Gantz said, "If Netanyahu stops galloping toward the destruction of democracy, his justice minister will resign and the nation will unite. If he continues galloping, his defense minister will resign, his connection with the US will break off, and the IDF will be torn apart. The choice is simple."
The Likud denied the media's reports of Gallant's potential resignation.