In Israel, the mass protests against the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu, which have been going on for months, continue. In addition to the judicial reform, the participants also criticized increased violence against the Arab minority in the country.
In Israel, numerous people have once again taken to the streets against the policies of the right-wing religious government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The protests in the country have now been going on for 23 weekends in a row.
There were demonstrations in Tel Aviv and in the cities of Haifa and Rehovot, among others. There was a lot of variation in the number of participants: The AFP news agency reported on thousands of people taking to the streets across the country. The dpa news agency even named tens of thousands of participants.
judicial reform continues main point of criticism
The protests were again primarily directed against the controversial judicial reform that the governing coalition wants to implement. Critics see the regulations as an attempt to massively weaken the Israeli judiciary and the country’s highest court. With the reform of the judiciary, Parliament could in future overrule decisions of the highest court by means of a simple majority. In addition, politics would have a much greater influence on the appointment of judges.
In March, Netanyahu suspended implementation of the reform in the face of massive resistance. However, negotiations with the opposition about a compromise on the planned regulations have so far been unsuccessful.
A vote in Parliament next week threatens to further jeopardize the negotiations. The deputies are to decide on two representatives of the judge selection committee on Wednesday. As a rule, the posts are filled by one candidate supported by the government side and one candidate from the opposition. However, the government under Netanyahu is aiming in part to give both posts to representatives of the coalition. The opposition threatened to stop the negotiations on the judicial reform completely in this case.
Protest against increasing violence
The demonstrations were also directed against the increased violence in Arab-Israeli communities. According to media reports and information from non-governmental organizations, around 100 members of Israel’s Arab minority have been killed in violent crimes since the beginning of the year. That is about three times as many victims as in the same period last year.
In this context, the government critics accuse the right-wing extremist Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in particular of not taking enough action against the violence and some have called for his resignation.