According to calculations by local media, around 150,000 Israelis demonstrated this Saturday against the judicial reform pushed by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. These are the first protests after the prime minister announced the postponement of his controversial initiative. Attendance was lower than the previous 12 Saturdays, which saw hundreds of thousands gather, but it shows that part of the country wants to stay on the streets until the controversial legislative change is annulled — which would be a blow to the separation of powers―, and it is not satisfied with what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last Monday: his postponement until the next parliamentary season, which starts at the end of April and ends in July. They fear it’s just a delaying strategy.
Negotiations between the government and opposition on the reform under the auspices of President Isaac Herzog began on Tuesday. The leader of the opposition, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, takes part in this dialogue but also took part in the demonstration. “We remain on guard, the danger is not over,” he tweeted.
The two largest protests took place in the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The first featured American flags alongside the usual Israeli ones in a show of support for President Joe Biden in his clash with Netanyahu this week. There were also rallies with thousands of participants in Jerusalem (with writer David Grossman) and Raanana, as well as smaller rallies in about 150 locations across the country.
Protest against the reform this Saturday in Tel Aviv Ohad Zwigenberg (AP)
The organizers of the protests fear that the plenary session of the Knesset will approve some of the reform’s key laws at any time, as the Judiciary Commission already did so last Monday before Netanyahu’s speech. The government asserts that it has no intention of promoting them, but several opposition leaders see them as “negotiations with a gun on the table”.
Some of the calls for protest include anger at the compensation received by National Security Minister and leader of the far-right Jewish power party, Itamar Ben Gvir, in return for giving the green light to halt the reform. It is about creating a new security agency that will be under his command, the National Guard. It was included in the government agreements, but it was clearly a quid pro quo. Ben Gvir was responsible for disseminating the signed text that contained it. Its adoption is scheduled for this Sunday at the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers.
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The demonstrations come two days after thousands of supporters of the reform took to the streets of Tel Aviv with banners reading “The people have chosen judicial reform” and “Democracy in the elections”. They believe a number of unelected forces (military commanders, judges and the media) are holding back the executive branch, which has been in the hands of Netanyahu’s Likud and the far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties since last December, forming the most far-right coalition in Israel’s history. About 300 of the protesters temporarily blocked the city’s Ayalón highway, in a move that mirrors those of critics of the reform at each protest.
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