Israelis protest: Reuters, Tel Aviv, January 14 – Israelis protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed judicial reforms on Saturday in three major cities, with organisers charging that he was harming democracy just weeks after winning reelection.
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In his sixth term, Netanyahu, who controls a religious-nationalist coalition with a sizable parliamentary majority, seeks to restrain the Supreme Court in order to restore the “balance of the three arms of government.”
The planned revisions, according to detractors, would weaken judicial independence, encourage corruption, regress minority rights, and take away Israel’s courts system’s legitimacy, which aids in fending off accusations of war crimes from other countries. The nation’s attorney general and the chief justice of the Supreme Court are two among those opposed.
Organizers of the protests, which were conduct in the bitter winter rain, tried to strike a note of national unity after President Isaac Herzog pleaded with divisive lawmakers to “down the temperatures” of the debates.
Israelis protest Netanyahu’s law:
Benny Gantz, a moderate former defence minister who joined the Tel Aviv rally but was not schedule to speak, said, “Take an Israeli flag in one hand and an umbrella in the other, and come out to safeguard democracy and law in the State of Israel.”
One protester held a poster that read, “We Are Preserving Our Shared Home.” One more claim that Netanyahu had committed a “legal putsch”.
According to Israeli media, 80,000 people attended, with many more participating in protests in Jerusalem and Haifa.
A limited number of Palestinian flags were displaye in social media video, defying Netanyahu’s far-right friends. One of them, Itamar Ben-Gvir of the National Security Ministry, told Kan TV he wanted such flags taken down but was awaiting the attorney general’s judgement before directing any police raid.
The reform plan would be enact “with great deliberation while hearing all of the viewpoints,” said 73-year-old Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday.
Polls on how the public feels about the reforms have varied. 53% of Israelis were against changing the structure of judicial appointments, while 35% were in favour, according to a survey conducted by Channel 13 TV last week. On Thursday, though, Channel 14 TV found 61% in favour and 35% against.
The Supreme Court is criticise for its perceive overreach and unrepresentativeness of the electorate. The court is seen as a way to stabilise a volatile society, according to the court’s supporters.
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