Thousands of people demonstrated once more in Israel despite the temporary halt to the controversial judicial reform. The main rally of the nationwide protests took place in Tel Aviv for the 13th consecutive Saturday. “The government doesn’t want an agreement, it just wants to gain time to pass the judicial coup,” the organizers said. It is the task of the population to protect democracy. “This is the most critical time since the founding of the state.”
Accordingly, actions were planned at around 150 locations in the country. According to media reports, the demonstrators blocked several streets in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities. They waved Israeli flags. Signs read: “Democracy is stronger than this government” or “Arrest Netanyahu”. In addition, several pictures might be seen that were supposed to show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an orange prison uniform.
After massive protests and a general strike, the head of government postponed the highly controversial legislative proposal for a few weeks on Monday in order to make “room for dialogue”. Several talks between the coalition and the opposition have taken place since Tuesday. Politicians from the opposition parties, however, repeatedly doubted Netanyahu’s seriousness in wanting to reach a compromise.
With the judicial reform, Netanyahu’s coalition wants to curtail the influence of the Supreme Court and expand the government’s position of power. She accuses the court of excessive interference in political decisions. In the future, for example, Parliament should be able to overturn decisions of the Supreme Court with a simple majority. Critics see the separation of powers in danger and warn of a state crisis if the reform is implemented in this way.
