Controversial judicial reform
Protest march with tens of thousands reaches Jerusalem
07/22/2023, 8:48 p.m
For months, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets against the judicial reform in Israel. A demonstration march that started in Tel Aviv is now reaching Jerusalem. Before a decisive vote in Parliament, a sign should be set.
According to organizers, a day-long protest march against the controversial judicial reform in Israel with tens of thousands of people has arrived in Jerusalem. Several hundred demonstrators had started the approximately 70-kilometer hike from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Tuesday evening. In the past few days, the kilometer-long protest march has grown in size.
According to estimates by the Israeli broadcaster Channel 13, more than 70,000 people took part in the procession on Saturday. Your plan is therefore to spend Sunday night in front of Parliament. Rallies with thousands of people were also planned in other cities in Israel in the evening.
On Sunday morning, Israel’s right-wing religious government intends to present a core element of its plans to weaken the judiciary to parliamentarians. However, the final passage of the controversial law is not expected before Monday afternoon.
For more than six months, the project has divided large sections of Israeli society. Thousands of people regularly take to the streets. Recently, resistance within the military has also increased. Negotiations on a compromise have so far been unsuccessful. According to media reports, efforts should continue in the background.
The law is part of a larger package that critics see as a threat to Israel’s democracy. The country’s highest court should no longer be able to judge a decision by the government or individual ministers as “inappropriate”. Critics fear that this will encourage corruption and thus the arbitrary filling of important posts and layoffs. The Netanyahu government, on the other hand, accuses the judiciary of interfering too much in political decisions.