According to the organizers, around 300,000 people took part in demonstrations around the country on Saturday evening. In that case, it makes the demonstrations the largest that have ever been held in the country, writes The Times of Israel. Over 160,000 gathered in the streets of the big city of Tel Aviv, writes Haaretz. Around 30,000 demonstrators took part in the port city of Haifa further north on the coast. There were also demonstrations in dozens of other places, among others in Jerusalem, Herzliya, Sderot, Eilat and Beersheba, according to the newspaper. In Tel Aviv, there were clashes with the police after the demonstration had ended. Around 2,000 people made it past the roadblocks to the police, setting fire to car tires and setting up roadblocks on a motorway. 21 people were arrested. Ex-prime minister warns of civil disobedience Otherwise, the evening went quietly in the various demonstrations. A number of politicians held speeches, including former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. – This is the worst crisis since the state of Israel was established. If these dictatorship laws are implemented, we have no other choice but to resort to non-violent civil disobedience, Barak told the crowd in Tel Aviv. He called Netanyahu’s plan “an assassination of the declaration of independence which will turn Israel into a dictatorship”. WAKES UP ANGER: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reform proposal faces opposition from many in Israel. Photo: Ariel Schalit / AP Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz addressed the crowd in Haifa. – Netanyahu should aim at enemies of the state, and not at the good and loyal citizens of the state, Gantz said. Gantz’s party colleague and member of parliament Gideon Saar said that the government’s plan is to force the people to their knees, write the Jerusalem Post. – This is a weak and short-sighted government and the first anti-Zionist government. In the Knesset in Jerusalem they still have a majority, but for the people they constitute an ever smaller minority, said Saar. – Fighting for the soul of the country Opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid said of Netanyahu that “the time has come to put an end to your lies. As all important economists in Israel and the world have explained, it is you who are destroying the economy. You are the one who divides people. It is you who incite violence”. – We are not going to allow you to crush Israeli democracy and we have no plans to sit idly by and watch your poisonous incitement, the former prime minister continued. Lapid posted a picture on Twitter on Saturday evening which shows a huge crowd from the air. – Over a quarter of a million Israelis throughout the country are fighting for the soul of the country, he wrote. Protesters blocked a main road in Tel Aviv last night. Photo: Ariel Schalit / AP – Democracy at stake In front of a crowd in Rehovot, a city south of Tel Aviv, Labor party leader and former transport minister Merav Michaeli said that Netanyahu’s “power and incitement only give us more motivation to fight and protest”. – We will make them take a step back. We will continue to take to the streets until they are forced to stop. We will not let them take away our country and our democracy, she said. The demonstrations on Saturday were the eighth in as many Saturdays in a row, where Israelis waved flags and shouted slogans against Netanyahu and his government. – We really fear that we may become a fascist country. We are fighting for our country, for democracy, for equal rights for all, said one of the demonstrators in Tel Aviv, 68-year-old pensioner Ronit Peled, to the AFP news agency. Democracy! Democracy!” shouted the crowd. Civil disobedience Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom told Israeli Channel 13 News on Saturday evening that if the judicial reform is adopted, it will be legitimate to refuse to accept orders from the government. – The same fighter pilot or soldier in the special forces, or anyone else, has signed an agreement with a democratic country. But in the blink of an eye that the country becomes a dictatorship and he receives an order from an illegitimate government, I think it would be legitimate not to listen to the order, said Yatom. He emphasized that “there is no doubt that the country has changed, and what is hidden in the legal reform coup is that the country is going from being a democracy to becoming a dictatorship”. Netanyahu defends the need for reform Netanyahu took over the post of prime minister in December and put in place a unity government that is considered to be the most far-reaching in the country’s history. He is charged with corruption. There are complaints that he himself has rejected. Some critics believe that the proposal for legal reforms can be set in connection with precisely this indictment. Netanyahu himself has denied that there is any such connection. CONTROVERSY: Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset when the reform was up for the first vote. Photo: Maya Alleruzzo / AP – Judges have too much power Netanyahu has defended the need for judicial reforms by saying that the balance of power must be redressed. Today, judges have too much power over popularly elected politicians, he has said. It is a statement which, among others, the leader of the Supreme Court, Esther Hayut, disagrees with. She condemns the reform proposal as an attack on the independence of the judiciary. Among other things, the reform proposal gives the government more weight in the committee, as well as the judges in the country. The proposal removes the right of the Supreme Court to declare constitutional amendments invalid. The reform also gives the Knesset, the 120-member national assembly, the power to override decisions from the Supreme Court with a majority of 61 votes. Experts and the UN ask Netanyahu to reverse Legal experts have warned that the reform proposal places major limits on the Supreme Court’s ability to keep an eye on the government. Fundamental rights such as equality and freedom of expression will be unprotected, they believe. Analysts believe that such a restriction will make it possible for the people elected, with a simple majority, to set aside decisions from the Supreme Court. For example, the Knesset can cancel the corruption charges against Netanyahu, should he be convicted. The UN has also become involved. On Tuesday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said that the changes will weaken the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and the human rights of Israelis. – Absurd Türk encouraged Israel to pause consideration of the reform proposal to open up for reflection and wider debate. The proposed changes “will drastically undermine the judiciary’s ability to defend individual rights and the continuation of the rule of law”, he said. – The experiences in Israel and elsewhere in the world have shown the value of an independent judiciary which ensures that the people elected uphold basic legal standards that are laid down in the laws of the country, said Türk, who asked Netanyahu to listen to the criticism. – What an absurdity, Netanyahu replied. He asked Türk instead to “condemn the violation of human rights in Iran, Syria or the Palestinian Authority”. The reform proposal must go through three rounds of voting in the Knesset. It went through the first round, which was held on Tuesday.
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A record number protested against judicial reform in Israel – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
