Gantz says Netanyahu tearing country apart

Opposition party head MK Benny Gantz calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze the coalition’s bill to outlaw judicial scrutiny over the government’s administrative decisions, saying Netanyahu has “closed off [his] heart” to fractures in Israeli society tied to the coalition’s judicial overhaul.

“It’s not too late to stop and return to dialogue. A leader must make tough decisions – and it’s time to make them. Netanyahu, don’t tear the people apart,” Gantz says, speaking during his National Unity party’s Knesset faction meeting.

Netanyahu was hospitalized for dehydration on Saturday evening and released on Sunday with a heart monitoring device. Playing on the premier’s health woes, Gantz says that Netanyahu “has closed off [his] heart to the people of Israel.”

With a complex security situation only exacerbated by reservists refusing to service the military as part of an anti-overhaul protest, Gantz says that: “The time has come to enter a kind of intensive care, stop the bleeding, and first of all – open our hearts to public sentiments and the strategic needs of the state.”

The former defense minister also addresses reservists, urging them to continue to serve and not protest through the Israel Defense Forces.

“I call on you, despite the immense difficulty and fear: continue the mission and the struggle for this country, and continue to fight for it, against our enemies,” he says.