The protests that started on Saturday night are the largest since Netanyahu’s sixth inauguration.
In Israel, tens of thousands of people have demonstrated against the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu against the right-wing government. According to the police quoted by the Israeli media, around 80,000 people gathered in rainy Tel Aviv, and in addition, several thousand more people demonstrated in both Jerusalem and Haifa.
The protests that started on Saturday night are the largest since Netanyahu took office. Netanyahu, 73, was sworn in to his sixth government in late December after his coalition, which is based on far-right and ultra-religious parties, won the November election.
According to critics, the reforms planned by the government may damage the independence of the Israeli judiciary, incite corruption, hinder the realization of the rights of minority groups and deprive the country’s legal system of credibility.
According to news agencies, the demonstrators carried banners that read, among other things, “criminal government” and “end of democracy”.
– They intend to destroy the balance of Israeli democracy. This cannot work like this, said the person who spoke to the news agency AP in Tel Aviv Asaf Steinberg.
– We are going to fight for democracy until the last minute.
Among the targets of criticism is the country’s justice minister Yariv Levin. At the beginning of January, Levin announced a proposal for reforming the judiciary, which would weaken the Supreme Court. The law would give the parliament the right to overturn the Supreme Court’s motions with a simple majority and to enact laws that the court has deemed unconstitutional. Levin also suggested that politicians should have more power in appointing judges.
According to critics, Levin’s bill would weaken democracy and give full power to the government.
Source: Reuters, AP, AFP
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