2023-07-27 22:15:00
A protester against judicial reform, in Tel Aviv, July 27, 2023. JACK GUEZ / AFP
To the cries of “democracy, democracy”waving blue and white Israeli flags, thousands of Israelis demonstrated on the evening of Thursday, July 26, in Tel Aviv, against the vote by Parliament on a provision of the controversial reform of the judicial system brought by the government of LAW.
On Monday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his allies in the coalition of far-right parties and ultra-Orthodox Jews pushed through parliament a clause in the bill limiting the ability of the Supreme Court to overturn a government decision. .
This reform, which aims to increase the power of elected officials over that of magistrates, divides the country and has triggered one of the largest protest movements in the history of Israel, of which Tel Aviv is the epicenter.
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Fear of an authoritarian drift
The government believes that it is necessary to ensure a better balance of powers, but its critics see it as a threat to democracy and fear that it opens the way to an authoritarian drift. The text voted on Monday is the first of the reform to become law.
“It is described as the end of Israeli democracy. I think it’s ridiculous and everyone will realize that when the dust settles.”Mr. Netanyahu told the American television channel ABC on Thursday.
He explains that he initiated this reform, which aims to increase the power of elected officials over that of magistrates, to restore “the pendulum in the center”. “We have to fix it and that’s what we just did. This is a minor correction”he said, then repeating the point in another interview with CNN.
Protests had followed Parliament’s vote late into the night on Monday and police used water cannons to disperse the crowds. The organizers of the movement had announced new rallies during the week.
Critics of the Prime Minister, on trial for corruption, accuse him of wanting to use this reform to mitigate a possible judgment against him, which he denies.
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