For the tenth consecutive week, tens of thousands of Israelis once again demonstrated en masse in 95 towns in the country against the judicial reform. After a new day of “national disruption” called on Thursday, in which protesters blocked roads, clashed with the Police and tried to block access to the international airport to sabotage Benjamin Netanyahu’s official trip to Italy, between 300,000 and 500,000 people they staged what was cataloged as the “largest night mobilization in the history of Israel.”
Between seas of Israeli flags and slogans that claim to protect the “only democracy in the Middle East”, the marches continue to grow numerically due to the lack of will of the Government to stop the reform. In addition to academics, students or doctors, High officials of the Army and the secret services are at the forefront of the mobilizations. Last week all the alarms went off when dozens of reservists from elite units announced that they would stop serving in the army if Netanyahu and his allies do not stop the machinery.
The withdrawal of foreign investment, the shekel’s depreciation and the participation of members of the hi-tech sector in the demonstrations indicate that the viability of the “Israeli economic miracle” is at risk. “It is not possible to be in favor of the Israeli economy, and promote the withdrawal of investment. You cannot claim legality, and promote illegal acts. You cannot claim the security of the State, and encourage insubordination. There is no such thing as Zionism with conditions,” tweeted “Bibi” upon returning from Rome.
The “premier” and his allies consider “anarchists” to those who oppose resistance in the streets, including the military who have given their lives to the protection of the country. Sectors of the Jewish extreme right insinuated that the demonstrations are financed by foreign countries, an argument similar to that used by the regime of the Iranian ayatollahs regarding the “revolution of women”. Accused of excessive lukewarmness towards the “anarchists”, the head of the Tel Aviv Police was dismissed by the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvira radical convicted of racist incitement, considered a threat by senior security officials.
The coalition intends to continue implementing its plan in the Knesset this week, which will allow it to control the selection of judges or ignore Supreme Court rulings. For the Likud and its partners, the highest legal entity is a closed elitist entity, whose members are appointed without supervision, and which limits the establishment of a State based on Jewish religious law. Netanyahu ignored the desperate requests of President Isaac Herzog, who, faced with constant warnings that the crisis could lead to a “nightmare” (civil conflict), implored to stop the reform in order to achieve greater consensus. For the defenders of the Government, the measures will lead to a “democratization of justice” before the “activist courts”. The train crash seems inevitable and a “new day of escalation of the resistance” was already called for on Thursday, as well as another attempt to block Netanyahu’s trip to Berlin.
The internal tumult coincides with a relentless escalation of violence with the Palestinians. On Thursday, as the marches were winding down, a Palestinian gunman opened fire in a busy strip of bars in Tel Aviv, seriously wounding three people. The incursions of the Israeli Army to neutralize armed militants in the West Bank are on the rise and so far in 2023 more than 70 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have already died. Everything indicates that the imminent start of Ramadan could be explosive in Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories.
“These are the most critical weeks in the fight to safeguard Israeli democracy from those who seek to destroy it. Every Israeli committed to the Declaration of Independence must mobilize with strength and courage to defend the State of Israel,” the organizers of the marches announced. On Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, the epicenter of the protests, the energy grows every Shabbat. “When the only thing that limits the power of the government is its good will, it can no longer be considered a democracy. This is a full-fledged revolution, and Israel will become a dictatorship,” said the prestigious Israeli historian YNoah HararYo. In his view, Netanyahu is imposing a “revolution from above”: having seized power through a democratic victory, he now “tears down all limitations imposed by law to achieve unlimited power.” In this way, he can end up “using force to nullify the law.” Opponents believe that “Bibi” will be able to remain in office despite the three criminal cases he is facing.