Israel: tens of thousands demonstrate in support of ‘judicial amendments’

Tens of thousands of right-wing Israelis demonstrated on Sunday in support of the judicial overhaul that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government intends to impose on the country.

“The people want judicial reform,” tweeted Security Minster Itamar Ben-Gvir about the right-wing demonstrations in Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators arrived in the vicinity of the Knesset (parliament) to demonstrate against the proposed changes to the judicial system that would see the Supreme Court stripped of its right to apply a test of “reasonableness” to government decisions.

Israeli media reported that the President of the occupation state, Isaac Herzog, went to Sheba Hospital to meet with Netanyahu in an attempt to mediate and discuss opportunities for an agreement between the two parties. “This is a time of emergency,” he told the prime minister, who is recovering from having a heart pacemaker fitted. “We have to reach an agreement.”

Opposition leaders are expected meet at the house of the head of the Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid, today in an attempt to coordinate positions in the wake of the initiative put forward by the head of the Histadrut trade union federation. The union proposal has been rejected by the Likud and the leaders of the protests alike, whereas Lapid believes that it constitutes a basis for dialogue.

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Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday that the head of the Histadrut, Arnon Bar-David, and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Israeli Business Sector, Dubi Amitai, had submitted their proposal to reduce work on enacting the “reasonableness” law. According to the newspaper, the proposal is that the test of reasonableness will not apply to state and ministerial decisions if they are related to political matters. Moreover, it will not be possible to exclude government decisions from the test regarding the appointment of ministers and deputy ministers.

Histadrut also wants the government to freeze the Judicial reform legislation for 18 months, during which time it will only be able to advance legislation with the approval of 75 out of a total of 120 Knesset members.

According to Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Ofir Akunis, the country is facing an attempt to stage a military coup. Former chief economist at the Ministry of Finance Yoel Naveh, meanwhile, was reported by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation Kan 11 as saying that Netanyahu’s insistence on passing the judicial amendments will harm the Israeli economy “severely”.