No Tax on Sweetened Drinks

while Israel’s doctors’ union slammed it as “irresponsible” and damaging to public health.

Smotrich noted that many families purchase sodas and other sugary drinks for the upcoming holiday and that the cancellation of the tax would help lessen their bottom line at the checkout counter.

pointed the new government’s finance minister was to instruct ministry officials in January to roll back the tax hikes. He faced a backlash after doing so, with even those from around the world expressing their concerns.

al guard will be established. The budget that I demanded for the National Security Ministry will pass in full,” Ben Gvir tweeted on Monday evening. “Nobody will scare us. Nobody will succeed in changing the decision of the people.”

This week, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich signed a directive to cancel a tax on sweetened drinks that the previous government had introduced as part of a drive to reduce the consumption of unhealthy beverages.

Removal of the tax was a key coalition demand of the charedi parties, which argued that it had been introduced deliberately to target their communities.

In an effort to ensure that the nation’s health wasn’t impacted by the removal of the tax, Smotrich said he had ordered a team to work with the Health Ministry on promoting healthy eating habits and reducing sugar use.

MK Aryeh Deri, leader of the charedi Shas party, welcomed the development,

The tax was put in place by Smotrich’s predecessor, Avigdor Liberman, now leader of the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, which champions secular rights. It had been accompanied by a tax on single-use plastic utensils, aimed at preventing damage to the environment, which is also being canceled after the charedi parties noted that many charedi families are impacted by it.

Deri said, “The political tax imposed by Liberman on sweet drinks has been canceled!”

He added, “We don’t educate the public by hitting its pocket, but by smart and effective information, and that’s how we operate.”

The Israel Medical Association panned Smotrich’s directive, expressing in a statement its “disgust at the lack of responsibility” for public health and economics.

“Drink water,” the IMA advised.

Smotrich’s first act after being ap-

Ben Gvir’s National Guard

Labor MK Gilad Kariv criticized Netanyahu’s promise to Ben Gvir, tweeting: “The national guard must be under the police, rather than under the control of far-right group Lehava and the rest of the Kahanists” — a reference to followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane.

Supposedly, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had threatened to leave the Netanyahu government should there be a halt to the judicial reform plan. Now, the minister is reportedly staying on after the prime minister agreed to raise the issue of forming a national guard within the National Security Ministry in the upcoming cabinet meeting this Sunday.

“The reform will pass. The nation-

Former Israel Police chief Moshe Karadi said Ben Gvir would be forming “a private militia for his political needs” and would “recruit the Hilltop Youth” settler extremists to its ranks. “He’s dismantling Israeli democracy.” Karadi called legislation to this effect “dangerous and a distinct characteristic of turning Israel into a dictatorship.”

He added that it was unthinkable to establish a force that would report directly to the minister. “You cannot have an operational force that doesn’t report to the police commissioner,” he said.

Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh tweeted that “in the right-wing government, criminals appoint judges and terrorists run a private army. Every democrat must fight against this insanity at any price!”

Ben Gvir has said that he seeks to establish a volunteer national guard that would be deployed in times of ethnic unrest, such as the May 2021 Jewish-Arab race riots that took place in some Israeli cities, against a background of war with the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.

The Border Police is formally a part of the police and ultimately reports to the police commissioner, although parts of it fall under the military’s operational command.

Ben Gvir in January presented a framework for the national guard, which had some similar characteristics to an arrangement proposed by his predecessor, former public security minister Omer Barlev, and then-prime minister Naftali Bennett. However, the earlier plan saw the Border Police operating alongside the national guard, rather than as part of it.

Judicial Reform on Hold

On Monday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to announce the freezing of the government’s judicial reform effort until May, when the Knesset reconvenes after its up- coming recess for Pesach. dress the country at 10 a.m. local time but delayed the speech after members of his coalition threatened to bring down the government.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir revealed the prospective move on Monday evening and said that his Otzma Yehudit Party had agreed to the pause, seemingly preventing a collapse of the government.

The standoff over the reform package reached a critical juncture earlier in the day with the announcement of a worker walkout by the Histadrut labor federation, which set off a cascade of similar announcements, including the grounding of planes at Ben Gurion International Airport.

Netanyahu on Monday afternoon called for calm ahead of opposing protests in Jerusalem over the reform initiative.

“I agreed to remove my veto on the postponement of the legislation in exchange for a commitment [from Netanyahu] that the bills be brought to the Knesset for approval in the next session if no agreements are reached during the recess,” said Ben Gvir in a statement.

He added that the coalition would attempt to engage in negotiations before attempting to pass the reforms.

For his part, Netanyahu also agreed to green-light the formation of a civilian national guard under Ben Gvir’s authority during the next cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu was scheduled to ad-

A large demonstration was taking place outside of the Knesset in the afternoon featuring opponents of the ruling coalition and its reform proposals, while a pro-reform gathering was planned for the evening.

“I call on all the demonstrators in Jerusalem, on the right and the left, to behave responsibly and not to act violently. We are brothers,” Netanyahu posted on his Twitter account. (JNS)

Despite being dismissed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days ago, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was still serving in his role on Tuesday, two days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed him for publicly urging a halt to the government’s judicial overhaul legislation.

Gallant addressed the nation publicly on Saturday and urged a halt to the judicial reform legislation. He was summarily fired by Netanyahu in a statement on Sunday. By Monday evening, Netanyahu, under intense public pressure, had halted the legislation as Gallant had sought. But the premier has not yet commented on Gallant’s future.

According to Hebrew media, there has been a push from within the coalition, including by former Minister Aryeh Deri, to have Gallant reinstated. For now, the defense minister is fulfilling his duties, with no official notice of termination yet handed to him.

Gallant attended a planned security-related meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon. The meeting was the first encounter between Netanyahu and Gallant since the defense minister’s Saturday night speech.

The premier has reportedly held talks with Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a former Shin Bet chief who is seen as the favorite to replace Gallant if Netanyahu finalizes the decision to fire him.

After Netanyahu’s announcement on Monday that he was pausing the overhaul, Gallant said he welcomed the decision in order to hold talks with opponents of the legislation, his office said.