For the seventh week in a row, tens of thousands of people demonstrated across Israel - on Saturday - against the "judicial reform" plan that the government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu intends to implement.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (official) said that tens of thousands demonstrated in central Tel Aviv against the government and the "judicial reform" plan that it intends to implement, while hundreds of demonstrators closed main streets inside the city, and about 15 thousand people demonstrated in the city of Haifa (north).
Other cities witnessed demonstrations in which thousands participated, including Jerusalem, Netanya, Kfar Saba (center) and Beersheba (south), according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. A number of ministers and officials in previous governments also participated in the demonstrations, including former Defense Minister Benny Gantz and former Foreign Minister Tzipi. livni.
The demonstrators chanted against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding its immediate resignation, and chanted slogans against the judicial reform plan.
The opposition in Israel says that this plan represents "the beginning of the end for democracy," while Netanyahu reiterates that it aims to "restore the balance between powers (executive, legislative, and judicial) that was violated during the last two decades."
The plan includes amendments that limit the powers of the Supreme Court (the highest judicial authority) and give the government control over the appointment of judges.
According to the plans of Minister of Justice Yariv Levin, the parliamentary majority - according to the amendments - can pass a law even if the Supreme Court says it violates the country's basic law, which the opposition sees as "the beginning of the end of democracy."
This is not the first time that Israel has witnessed a series of weekly demonstrations against a government headed by Netanyahu, as it witnessed huge demonstrations against his previous government between 2020 and 2021, which lasted for more than 10 months.
International, Arab and Israeli media described Netanyahu's current government, which was sworn in last December 29, as "the most right-wing in Israel's history."
The Palestinians accuse Israel of working at an intense pace to Judaize Jerusalem and obliterate its Arab and Islamic identity, while they cling to East Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state based on international legitimacy resolutions that do not recognize Israel's occupation of the city in 1967, nor its annexation to it in 1981.