Waving the blue and white Israeli flag, thousands of people demonstrated Saturday in central Tel Aviv and in 20 cities across the country. For the fifth week since Binyamin Netanyahu’s government took office in December, they are protesting controversial judicial reforms being considered by the Israeli prime minister’s government. The Israeli police did not provide any figures on the number of protesters.
Mr. Netanyahu returned in December to head the government combining right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, the most right-wing in the history of Israel. In early January, Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced a reform plan including the introduction of a clause “derogatory” allowing Parliament to overrule a Supreme Court decision by a simple majority. This reform aims to increase the power of elected officials over that of magistrates and, according to its detractors, jeopardizes the democratic character of the State of Israel.
Legal pressure on the government
Also in January, Mr. Netanyahu was forced, under pressure from the courts, to dismiss government number two Arie Dery, convicted of tax evasion. At the end of December, the deputies voted on a text, baptized “Dery law” by the press, allowing a person convicted of a crime, but not sentenced to prison, to sit in government. The Supreme Court criticized this law and found that the appointment of Mr. Dery was “in serious contradiction with the fundamental principles of the rule of law”.
Mr. Netanyahu himself is on trial for corruption in several cases and his trial is underway. In Israel, the Prime Minister does not have any judicial immunity but does not have to resign or step down during his trial. The government further announced its intention to pursue a policy of settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, as well as social reforms that have worried the LGBTQ community.