Israel universities prepare to strike in protest against judicial overhaul

Israeli universities have been preparing to hold strikes in protest against the ongoing judicial overhaul, Israeli Hebrew newspaper Maariv reported organisers of anti-judicial reform protests saying.

“Academia stands at the forefront of the struggle to preserve democracy,” the protest movement said yesterday.

It also called on other organisations in the public and private sectors “to prepare for the shutdown of the economy if the government dares to disobey the law and the ruling of the High Court of Justice.”

The Jerusalem Post reported that the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion, Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa and the Open University declared a labour dispute yesterday in preparation for a possible strike in protest of the judicial overhaul.

The Weizmann Institute of Science, Ben-Gurion University and Bar-Ilan University are advancing similar moves, the paper added.

READ: Israelis continue to protest judiciary regulation for 31st straight week

Protesters are concerned that the judicial changes being introduced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition will erode democratic norms and grant too much power to the current Israeli government, which is Israel’s most far-right and religious coalition to date, enabling it to overturn existing laws; eroding Israel’s democracy, activists say.