Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the judiciary, despite escalating violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The protests against the proposals, which were temporarily halted last month due to mass demonstrations and strikes, have caused one of the biggest domestic crises in Israel’s recent history.
The judicial proposals would grant the government effective control over the appointment of Supreme Court judges and permit parliament to override many of the court’s decisions, resulting in a loss of checks and balances underpinning a democratic state. The government claims the overhaul is necessary to restore a proper balance between the judiciary and elected politicians, while critics argue that it would grant unchecked power to the government.
The protests come amid surging violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. On Saturday, as demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv, Israeli forces shot and killed a 20-year-old Palestinian man, Ahed Salim, in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian health ministry stated that Salim was hit in the chest and stomach by live fire in Azzun near Qalqilyah.
Moreover, the Israeli military reported that three rockets were launched from Syria toward Israeli territory on Saturday, with no immediate claim of responsibility or reported damage. Worries about a possible repeat of nighttime Israeli police raids, which were followed by rocket barrages into Israel and Israeli air attacks on Gaza and southern Lebanon, have caused tens of thousands of worshippers to gather around Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for evening prayers.
The Israeli population was already on edge after a car-ramming in Tel Aviv on Friday that killed an Italian man and injured five other tourists, as well as a shooting attack that killed two Israeli sisters and injured their mother near an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
In response to potential trouble, Netanyahu has mobilised border police reservists and ordered the army to reinforce security positions, while the United Nations, European Union, and the United States have called for calm. However, protesters in Tel Aviv claim that the government is using security as an excuse and that it will not prevent them from taking to the streets.
The protests have seen hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, including business leaders, members of Israel’s tech industry, leading academics, and army reservists, facing off against supporters of Netanyahu’s far-right religious-nationalist coalition. Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar reported from Tel Aviv that approximately 145,000 people were expected to attend the protest.
The growing crisis has further isolated Netanyahu, who is losing control of his government and being subjected to blackmail by his coalition partners, according to Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara. Netanyahu is also experiencing significant losses in the polls, as well as the security situation, and the so-called stability and prosperity of the country.
