For the twenty-seventh week in a row, thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to overhaul the judicial system.
365,000 protesters turned out, making it one of the largest protests in Israel’s history.
Crowds of protesters waved the blue and white Israeli flags that have become a feature of protests over the past six months.
As per media reports, the police used water cannons to disperse the crowd as about 100 protesters blocked a main road in Tel Aviv.
The protests come just before the first reading of a bill to strip the judiciary of the right to rule on the “reasonableness” of government decisions will take place on Monday.
Speaking at the protest, Historian Yuval Noah Harari has urged to take action against the Netanyahu government, AFP reported
“If we don’t stop Netanyahu’s government, it will soon learn what happens when we get angry,” he warned.
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.
