- Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated on Saturday evening.
- They reject Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned judicial reform.
- In the meantime, Israel’s president has also appealed to Netanyahu’s government to reconsider the reform.
The demonstrators accuse the head of government of endangering the democratic control of ministers by the courts. Therefore, the future of Israeli democracy is at stake.
62 percent are against the reform
Further protests and some strikes have been announced for Monday, when the first reading of the project in parliament is scheduled.
The Israeli broadcaster N12 published a poll on Saturday. Accordingly, 62 percent of Israelis either want to suspend the reform or stop it altogether.
Legend:
Tens of thousands of Israelis are opposing Prime Minister Netanyahu’s planned judicial reform.
Keystone/Ohad Zwigenberg
Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party has long accused the Supreme Court of being dominated by left-leaning judges. For political reasons, they would interfere in areas that do not fall within their area of responsibility.
Netanyahu formed one of the far-right governments in Israeli history after his re-election in early November last year.
Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog has warned of a “constitutional and social collapse” in the country. In one of his rare television speeches during prime time on Sunday evening, Herzog appealed to the members of the coalition government to postpone the steps towards judicial reform already planned for the coming week.
Legend:
According to President Isaac Herzog, Israel is on the verge of constitutional collapse.
Keystone/Maya Alleruzzo (archive)
Herzog urged immediate talks between the government and the opposition. The aim must be to establish a procedure for the enactment of Israel’s quasi-constitutional laws and to prohibit the Supreme Court from interfering with these laws.