Protesters in Tel Aviv
Tens of thousands of people once again took to the streets in Israel to protest against the right-wing religious government’s planned judicial reform. According to media reports, more than 100,000 people demonstrated on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv alone.
Tens of thousands of people once again took to the streets in Israel to protest against the right-wing religious government’s planned judicial reform. According to media reports, more than 100,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv alone on Saturday evening and waved the white and blue Israeli flag. Around 50,000 people took part in the protests in Haifa and 10,000 in Beer Sheva.
There have been violent protests against the judicial reforms aimed at by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the past ten weeks. According to the demonstrators, the planned law endangers the separation of powers and thus democracy in the country.
Among other things, the new law would allow Parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions by a simple majority. It would thus almost entirely abolish its power to judicial review of laws. It is also intended to give the government control over the appointment of chief justices. A panel of politicians, judges and members of the bar association is currently voting on this.
Despite calls for amendments to the text of the law, the far-right governing coalition in Israel’s history, which includes ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties, appears to be banking on speedy passage. Daily debates on parts of the judicial reform are scheduled in Parliament from Sunday to Wednesday. Justice Minister Jariv Levin is aiming for key points of the reform to be passed before the start of the parliamentary recess in early April.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog opposed the judicial reform and called on the government to stop the project. Herzog spoke of a “danger to the foundations of our democracy”. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had also expressed concern about the “planned restructuring of the rule of law” in Israel.
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