Tens of thousands of Israelis protest against Netanyahu’s controversial judicial reforms

Middle East, News January 16, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

More than 80,000 Israeli protesters took to the streets in the country’s capital Tel Aviv as well as other major cities including Haifa and Jerusalem consecutively on the second day on January 15, 2023, to protest against the newly elected right-winged coalition government’s judicial reforms.

The protestors chanted slogans against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Many of the protestors, covered by umbrellas, held Israeli flags and signs saying “Criminal Government”, “The End of Democracy”, among other slogans.

Israel’s ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered the police to take tough action if protesters block roads or display Palestinian flags.

Netanyahu’s right-winged coalition government has launched a proposal to weaken the Supreme Court’s authority by giving parliament the power to overturn the court’s decision with a simple majority vote. The proposed judicial reforms would also give the parliament more control over the appointment of judges and reduce the interdependence of legal advisors.

Since being indicted in 2019, Netanyahu has been accused of and trialed by the supreme court for corruption cases. He says that the justice system is biased against him. The legal changes could help Netanyahu evade conviction for corruption or even make his trial disappear entirely.

*^{A huge crowd gathered in Tel Aviv to protest at the judicial reforms to reduce Supreme Court powers. (Image Credit: Reuters/Ilan Rosenberg)}*

Among those leading the protests are former opposition leader Tzipi Livni, former prime minister Ehud Barak, National Unity party leader and former defense minister Benny Gantz, former chief of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Gadi Eisenkot, Labor party leader Merav Michaeli, and Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas.

Current opposition leaders of Israel and former prime minister Yair Lipid announced that he would not join the protest after being told that he would not be allowed to address the crowd.

Israel’s newly appointed government has barely completed two weeks in office and it is facing one of the largest protests ever recorded against any government. Netanyahu was Israel’s prime minister between 1996 and 1999, and then between 2009 and 2021. In order to return back to the Prime Minister’s office for the third time, Netanyahu sought help from the ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism party of Israel.

The Otzma Yehudit party is known for its anti-Arab and anti-Islamic rhetoric that its leaders, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, often use in their speeches. The party also advocates for the deportation of Arabs from Israel for their ‘disloyalty’ towards the Jewish state.

*^{Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu (left) with Otzma Yehudit party chief Itamar Ben Gvir at the Knesset on December 28, 2022. (Image Credit: Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)}*

Netanyahu’s coalition partner, Israel’s current National Security Minister and leader of the Religious Zionism Ben-Gvir is a loyal follower of an explicitly racist and ultra-nationalist leader late Meir Kahane. Kahane’s organization was banned in Israel and designated as a terrorist group by the United States. Ben-Gvir has also been convicted of incitement to racism and supporting terrorist organizations on several occasions.