Jerusalem: For the 20th week in a row, tens of thousands of people protested across Israel, on Saturday, against the “judicial reform” plan that the government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu is working to endorse.
The rallies took place in about 150 locations, a week after protests were scaled back by the threat of rockets being fired from Gaza as Israel battles the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
Hebrew media estimated that between 90,000 and 100,000 attended the main rally on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv, and that the total number nationwide was about 150,000 – a marked decrease from before the fighting, which was between 200,000 and 300,000.
The protestors carried banners, some of which read, “Bibi is the enemy of democracy” and “Minister of Crime.”
The protesters want the plans proposed by the most hardline government in Israel’s history to be scrapped rather than delayed as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in March.
On March 27, the Israeli prime minister declared the project to be “suspend” to give “a chance for dialogue,” but mobilization against reform remains strong.
Israelis have protested weekly since January to denounce the reform plan and Netanyahu’s government, which has been accused of corruption in a series of cases.
For the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history, the reform of the judicial system aims in particular to rebalance the powers by strengthening the powers of Parliament at the expense of the Supreme Court, which it considers politicized.
