More than 100,000 Israelis take part in another protest against Netanyahu’s judicial reform

2023-09-23 22:19:05

More than 100,000 Israelis took to the streets this Saturday of the country to demonstrate against the judicial reform promoted by the Government of Benjamin Netanyahuwithin the framework of a massive protest movement that marks its thirty-eighth consecutive week of concentrations.

As has happened since the beginning of the year, the main focus of protests was the city of Tel Avivwhere according to local media estimates, as 100,000 people. Several thousand more were added to these in different parts of the country.

This Saturday’s demonstrations come shortly before Israel marks the Yom Kippurthe Day of Forgiveness, the most sacred day in Judaism.

On the occasion of this holiday, the organizers of the protests said that the central message of the concentrations has been “There is no forgiveness for the Dictatorship“, alluding to the Executive led by Netanyahu and also made up of ultra-Orthodox and ultra-right parties.

The protesters denounce that the judicial reform, which seeks to grant more power to the Executive to the detriment of Justiceendangers Israeli democracy and marks an increasingly authoritarian trend of the Government.

Shikma Bressler, one of the leaders of the protest movement, was present at the central Tel Aviv demonstration and referred to the negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia towards an agreement to normalize relations, describing them as “a trap” to divert the attention to judicial reform.

“We, Israeli citizens across the political spectrum, say this afternoon and for 38 consecutive weeks: we will not be fooled,” said Bressler, who also highlighted that previous agreements with other Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco did not prevent Netanyahu to promote authoritarian policies in the past.

Following statements this week at the United Nations by the Saudi crown prince, Mohamed Bin SalmanUS President Joe Biden, and Netanyahu himself, on the progress of negotiations towards the establishment of diplomatic ties, speculation grew in Israel about the risk that this would represent for the current Israeli government, whose most right-wing members have anticipated that They reject the inclusion in the pact of any type of concession towards the Palestinians, a central issue for the Saudis.