For the tenth consecutive week, thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday against the judicial reforms that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to implement.
The protestors accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his far-right extremist views, including racism and trying to establish a dictatorship.
According to Israel TV Channel 12, Tel Aviv saw 1,45,000 protesters while Haifa and Beersheba registered 50,000 and 10,000 respectively. Three demonstrators were arrested by the Tel Aviv police.
In the early morning, car convoys of protestors drove to Ben Gurion Airport to block land roads for Netanyahu who arrived in Rome by helicopter.
“It’s not a judicial reform. It’s a revolution that (is) making Israel go to full dictatorship and I want Israel to stay a democracy for my kids,”ย Tamir Guytsabri, 58, who was one of the protestors.
Why are Israelis protesting against judicial reforms?
Netanyahu was elected in November 2022 as the Prime Minister for the sixth time. His cabinet is considered the most extreme, nationalistic, and exclusionary government in Israel’s history.
From the beginning, the Israeli government sought to make significant changes to the Supreme Court that would remove its independence and power to control the Parliament.
Several proposed plans would limit the court’s ability to overturn laws it deems unconstitutional, allowing a simple majority of the Knesset to overturn its decisions. It also gives state lawmakers and appointees effective power over the nine-person committee that appoints judges and removes key officials from the attorney general. These and other changes undermine the power of an independent judiciary in an otherwise unchecked parliamentary system.
The issue has created significant rifts in Israeli society prompting even reservists, the backbone of the Israeli army, to threaten to withdraw from service.
