2023-07-22 11:06:39
Yet another major demonstration is taking place on Saturday July 22 in Tel Aviv where tens of thousands of Israelis have planned to take to the streets to oppose judicial reform. For more than six months, opponents have been mobilizing en masse every week against this reform which aims to increase the power of elected officials over that of magistrates.
The government believes it is necessary to ensure a better balance of power, but its critics see it as a threat to democracy and its institutional safeguards.
January 4, 2023: presentation of the reform
The snap legislative elections of 2022 make Likud, the party of Benjamin Netanyahu, the first party in the Knesset. The latter was appointed on November 13, 2022 to form an (umpteenth) government. By forming an alliance with far-right religious Zionist parties, defenders of the Orthodox or anti-Palestinians, Benjamin Netanyahu forms a cabinet which obtains the vote of confidence of Parliament on December 29. However, in this coalition, the most to the right in the history of Israel, certain parties wish to change the legal system.
On January 4, 2023, the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, announced his intention to reform the Israeli judicial system, in particular by limiting the power of the Supreme Court, the guarantor of democracy in a country without a Constitution and the last safeguard against the right-wing of public opinion.
January 7: first demonstration in Tel Aviv
A few days after the introduction of the bill, a first demonstration brings together 20,000 people in Tel Aviv to demand its withdrawal. In the weeks that followed, Israelis took to the streets by the tens of thousands. They are between 80,000 and 100,000 on January 14, more than 100,000 on January 21 in the capital. Others gather in Haifa, Jerusalem or coastal towns.
February 21: reform before the Knesset
The Israeli Parliament adopts in first reading certain provisions of the reform. The protests, which have become weekly meetings, are gaining momentum. Other means of protest are added: general strike, blocking of road and maritime networks, sit-in in front of the Knesset, hunger strike. The police suppress the movement.
March 27: Netanyahu announces the suspension of the legislative process
While several foreign leaders are worried about the deterioration of the political situation, the demonstrations bring together more and more Israelis, culminating in 500,000 people mobilized across the country on March 11 and more than 630,000 on March 25. It is one of the largest gatherings in Israel’s history.
Defense Minister Yoav Galant, worried that the movement would fracture society and could endanger Israel’s “security”, called on March 25 for a pause in the legislative process. He is fired the next day. Thousands of demonstrators take to the streets, the largest Israeli trade union center, Histadrut, which has 800,000 members, announces a “general strike” while the universities go on “unlimited strike”.
On March 27, Benyamin Netanyahu announced a « pause » in the process of adopting the reform, which has nevertheless been postponed to the next parliamentary session. The general strike ends immediately.
May 1: resumption of debates in parliament
The debates resume in the Knesset which opened its summer session on May 1, and with them, the weekly demonstrations.
July 10: the adoption of a crucial measure revives the protest
Parliament adopts at first reading a measure aimed at canceling the possibility for the judiciary to rule on the “reasonableness” government decisions. It was this clause that in January forced the Israeli Prime Minister to dismiss the government’s number two, Arié Dery, convicted of tax evasion, following the intervention of the Supreme Court.
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