Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took part in nationwide rallies on Saturday night to protest the 12th straight week of mass protests against the government’s radical plans to overhaul the judicial system, ahead of the expected passage of a key piece of the restructuring next week.
During the protests, Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant made a televised address calling on the coalition to halt the legislative push until after Passover and several public holidays next month to allow talks on judicial reform, emphasizing his support for changes to the judiciary and calls for it immediate end to the protests.
The main demonstration took place in Tel Aviv, where it is estimated that at least 195,000 attended the main rally on the coastal city’s Kaplan Street.
Tens of thousands also took part in protests in numerous other locations across the country, including major cities such as Jerusalem, Haifa and Beersheba.
Protest organizers claimed that a total of over 600,000 people attended the rallies. The number could not be independently verified.
At the main rally in Tel Aviv, historian Yuval Noah Harari said officials and the military must obey the courts, not the government, should Israel face a constitutional crisis.
Harari said to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We know that you are responsible for everything that happens. You are not an emissary. You are definitely not an angel. After 2,000 years we still remember the pharaoh. And we will remember you. No streets, squares or airports will be named after you. But we will tell the story of the man who tried to enslave us and failed.”
“You’re surrounded by people with no spine. But we have backbone… We will not be slaves. Next year we will be free people,” he added, referring to the upcoming Passover holiday.
Israelis protest in Tel Aviv on March 25, 2023 against the government’s planned judicial overhaul. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
At the same rally, Shikma Bressler, a world-renowned physicist and protest leader who was arrested at a demonstration earlier this week, said the government’s plan to take control of the judge-selection committee was “the first domino on the road to dictatorship is .”
Dozens of protesters later ran onto the Ayalon Highway, blocking traffic. Police used a water cannon to disperse the protesters, 12 of whom were arrested.
On Route 65 in northern Israel, police said four people had been arrested for disorderly conduct, including hurling torches, as hundreds blocked the Karkur intersection.
Protesters block the Karkur intersection on the Route 65 highway in northern Israel on March 25, 2023. (Israeli Police)
Ahead of the main rallies, over 1,000 demonstrators, led by a group representing reservist soldiers, protested outside Gallant’s home in Moshav Amikam, northern Israel.
“Galant, who is silent out of fear, who realizes that he is responsible for the disintegration of the people’s army, who knows that the IDF soldiers will be indicted in The Hague, who lends a hand to the dictatorship,” the brothers in arms told a protest group.
Increasingly, reservists — who are a key part of the army’s routine operations, including in top-level units — have warned they will not be able to serve in an undemocratic Israel they accuse the country of being under the government’s judicial overhaul plan will fall. The warnings have awakened deep fears about the future of the country in the security apparatus.
Hundreds protest outside Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s home in Moshav Amikam on March 25, 2023. (Screenshot: Twitter)
Saturday’s demonstrations followed a nationwide “week of paralysis” by protesters, which will start on Sunday after Netanyahu announced that the government would pass a key tenet of the legislation in the coming days – giving the coalition near-total control over the appointment of to give to judges.
Weekly rallies have been taking place since the government announced in early January that it would tightly shield the judiciary.
“We are entering the most fateful week in Israel’s history,” the protest leaders said in a statement. “This destructive government is tearing the nation apart and dismantling the military and the economy.”
The vow to intensify protests next week came a day after Netanyahu said his government would continue to “responsibly” move forward with the plan while aiming to pass a key part of the overhaul next week – a draft law key Supreme Court appointments directly in coalition control. Netanyahu insisted that “we don’t want a controlled court, we want a balanced court.”
The government has also pushed other laws that have angered its opponents, including passing a law Thursday to shield Netanyahu from a court order to resign himself.
Israelis protest in Rosh Pina on March 25, 2023 against the government’s planned judicial overhaul. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)
Following the passage of this law, Netanyahu announced that he would ignore a conflict of interest that has allowed him to rule during his ongoing corruption trial and henceforth become directly involved in efforts to overhaul the judiciary.
In response, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara Netanyahu told Netanyahu on Friday that he had violated the conflict of interest agreement and that any further involvement in the coalition’s judicial review was “illegal and rife with a conflict of interest.”
Netanyahu’s coalition, a conglomeration of right-wing, ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties, has pushed legislation aimed at weakening the court’s ability to serve as scrutiny of parliament and giving the government control over the appointment of judges. For nearly three months, there have been weekly mass protests against the proposed law and a growing wave of objections from high-ranking public figures, including the president, lawyers, business leaders and more.