Far from easing, the protests in Israel against the judicial reform promoted by the conservative Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu are once again being noticed this Thursday with force in the streets of the country, under the motto of “National Equality Day”.
Opponents of the reform block roads and avenues in major cities, hoping to increase pressure on lawmakers after parliament met again this week after a month-long recess.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu halted the reform in March after intense pressure and opposing sides are trying to reach a compromise deal.
Netanyahu “has returned to incitement and his ministers have announced that their objective is to approve the judicial coup in the Knesset (Parliament). Only hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the streets can prevent the Government from destroying the Army, the economy and cohesion social”, indicates a communiqué from one of the protest groups.
Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in the history of Israel, announced its judicial reform in January, but the prime minister himself had to suspend the procedures for its approval in the Knesset at the end of March, given the deep social polarization and the historical protest movement that spawned the initiative.
One of the most controversial aspects is the judge selection law, which would give the government almost total power over the committee that nominates them. In addition, the ability of the Supreme Court to annul legislation would be drastically reduced.
This reform has put the Netanyahu government in check, which has lost much of its social support, while various sectors of the population, such as businessmen from the important technology sector, bankers, intellectuals, soldiers and even international voices, have warned of the danger that democracy runs through in the country and the economic losses that this would entail.
Today “there will be demonstrations, protest marches, convoys and roadblocks throughout the day and throughout the country,” the organizers warned, arguing that “there is no democracy without equality.”
In addition to the independence of the Supreme Court, many Israelis fear that the judicial reform will undermine the rights of gays, women or Israeli Arabs, and that it will give privileges to certain sectors, such as ultra-Orthodox Jews.
The anti-reform demonstrations have taken place every week since January and have gathered more than 120,000 people in Tel Aviv alone, the epicenter of the protests. In contrast, last Thursday, tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Jerusalem in favor of the government and its reform.
Today’s day of protests coincides with the restart of the Knesset sessions this week, after having been in recess in April.
During this period of pause, dialogues between the government and the opposition were held -without success- sponsored by President Isaac Herzog, with the aim of creating consensus around judicial reform.
“Negotiations at the president’s house have failed because Netanyahu is unwilling to compromise and maintain the independence of the judiciary. Only the continuation of the mass protests will prevent Israel from becoming a dictatorship,” one of the protest groups said.
The discord between members of the Government and the opposition around the reform has given rise to increasingly incendiary public rhetoric, for which Herzog called for “everyone to behave with moderation, control their comments and act responsibly.”
Although the prime minister says he is committed to reaching a consensus, he accused the opposition of being unwilling.
“They talk about dialogue, but in the talks they say: ‘No, no, no, no’. I would love to know what they accept,” he said during a Knesset session, to which opposition leader, former Prime Minister Yahir Lapid replied: “If the unity of the nation is important to you, stop (the reform) and everything will even out.”
On the other hand, the Knesset must overcome the internal divisions of the coalition itself.
National Security Minister, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, said lawmakers from his party would not attend sessions and votes yesterday and today in protest at what they saw as Israel’s “weak military response” to the recent escalation. with the Gaza Strip.
Likud, Netanyahu’s party, responded with a statement warning that “if this is not acceptable to Minister Ben Gvir, he has no reason to remain in government.”
On his side, Ben Gvir, leader of the far-right party Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) and one of the main coalition partners, replied: “If you don’t want Otzma Yehudit in the government, you can fire us, if you don’t want a government real right, you can send us home.”
