A hundred thousand Israelis, including former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, demonstrated on Saturday evening January 21 in Tel Aviv to denounce the attacks on democracy of which they accuse the ruling coalition, according to press estimates. .
The police did not provide an assessment, but it is the strongest mobilization since Binyamin Netanyahu returned to power last month to head the most right-wing government in Israeli history, which brings together the right, the extreme right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties. Some 70,000 demonstrators had already taken to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday January 14, according to the police.
“People who love the state have come to defend its democracy, its courts, the idea of a common life and a common good”a tweeted Yaïr Lapid joining the demonstrators, swearing to “don’t give up until we win”.
showdown with the Supreme Court
What you see here today is a demonstration in favor of the state. People who love the country came to defend its democracy, its courts,… https://t.co/6mLPMGal9k
The demonstrators denounce in particular the project for the reform of the judicial system presented at the beginning of the month by the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, which provides for the introduction of a clause “derogatory” allowing Parliament to override a Supreme Court decision, which many see as an attack on democracy.
The demonstration in Tel Aviv also attracted opponents of the occupation of Palestinian territories. Many members of the government are strong supporters of West Bank settlement expansion.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday invalidated the appointment of Interior Minister Arié Deri, who had been found guilty of tax evasion. The Israeli deputies had voted hastily, at the end of December 2022, a text baptized “Déri law” by the press, allowing a person convicted of a crime, but not sentenced to a prison term, to obtain a ministerial portfolio, so as to allow the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shass party to enter the government of Binyamin Netanyahu .