Demonstrations continue against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
– Photo: Social Media
Expansion
Protests have continued for an 11th consecutive week against the judicial reform plans of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government. On Saturday again a large number of people gathered in the towns and cities. Netanyahu’s government has regularly held large-scale protests across Israel following reforms announced in January, days after taking office.
According to Israeli media, thousands of protesters turned out in more than 100 towns and cities, including Haifa, Jerusalem and Beersheba. Indeed, protesters fear that the proposed reforms, already moving through parliament, will increase politicians’ power over the courts, threatening Israeli democracy.
Flags of Israel and the LGBTQ community were raised
In Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square, thousands of protesters waved the blue and white flag of Israel, as well as the rainbow flag of the LGBTQ community. The protesters who came out of the cities blocked the roads. An AFP photographer sees people protesting in central Tel Aviv holding a banner that reads: “Traitor Left”.
What did people say on the protest against the Israeli government?
Nama Mazor, a 64-year-old retiree from the city of Herzliya who attended the main rally in Tel Aviv, said she was “concerned not for herself, but for her daughters and grandchildren”. He told AFP: “We want to keep Israel democratic, of course Jewish, but liberal. We are very worried that it is going to become a dictatorship. There is no half-democracy here. We are either a democracy or a dictatorship. In between.” There’s nothing.”
Sagiv Golan, 46, from Tel Aviv, said the government was trying to destroy civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights and everything that democracy stands for. He further said – We want to show the voice of democracy.
Addressing protesters in the city of Ashdod, opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the government for rejecting the proposed agreement. He said the coalition members “do not want negotiations, they want to go ahead with the law and turn Israel into an undemocratic state.”
Opposition surrounds Netanyahu
A police spokesman said a 57-year-old man was arrested in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, for allegedly driving his car into a group of protesters. While one other has been admitted to the hospital. Opponents have accused Netanyahu of trying to use the reforms to sidestep potential decisions. However, the Prime Minister has rejected these allegations.
Expressing concern over the deepening rift in Israel, President Isaac Herzog presented a proposed settlement on Wednesday, but the government quickly rejected it. Herzog said, “Anybody who thinks that civil war with human lives is a line we can never reach doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Leaders of opposition parties said at a joint news conference on Thursday that they supported Herzog’s outline.
The ruling coalition, comprising ultra-Orthodox Jews and far-right parties, argues that the proposed reforms are necessary to correct this imbalance between elected representatives and Israel’s top court. The reform would, among other things, allow lawmakers to overrule Supreme Court decisions by a simple majority.
Other proposals would give the government more prominence in the committee that selects judges and would deprive the Supreme Court of the right to strike down any amendments to the so-called Basic Laws, Israel’s quasi-constitution.
