2023-07-24 15:21:30
The so-called ‘sensible clause’ receives the green light amid protests and denunciations of an institutional “coup”
MADRID, 24 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Israeli Parliament has approved this Monday a controversial clause of the judicial reform project presented by the Government, a decision adopted in the midst of new mobilizations at the national level against the plans of the Prime Minister’s Executive, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The vote ended with 64 votes in favor and none against after the parliamentarians of all the opposition parties decided to leave the plenary session of the Knesset at the insistence of the Government – made up of ultra-Orthodox and ultra-right-wing parties – to carry out the so-called ‘sensible clause’, as reported by the Israeli newspaper ‘Time’.
Shortly before the vote, the defense and justice ministers, Yoav Gallant and Yariv Levin, respectively, held a discussion amid cries of “shame” from the opposition benches. Gallant himself later spoke with the leader of the opposition Yesh Atid, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, without further details.
Thus, the last-minute efforts to amend the draft clause — which enables the courts to annul a government decision if they consider it to be against the democratic system, after the collapse of the talks between the Executive and the opposition — or to reactivate the talks between the government and the opposition have proven unsuccessful, after 30 hours of debate on it, which have included the rejection of 140 amendments presented by the opposition.
Immediately after the vote, the Finance Minister, the far-right Bezalel Smotrich, applauded the result and argued that the coalition “has done everything possible until the last moment, but unfortunately the opposition has opposed it”, as reported by The Times of Israel newspaper.
For his part, Levin has praised what he has described as “a first step in a historic process to correct the judicial system”, while Netanyahu has left the plenary session without making a statement after voting. ‘Bibi’ had arrived shortly before after being discharged after undergoing surgery on Sunday to have a pacemaker fitted.
For the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, “Israel is a little more democratic and a little more Jewish” with the approval of this law. “To the left, to those who are protesting, I would say that you are our brothers and that we love you, but our job is to govern and develop a completely right-wing policy. Today you will understand the difference between this government and previous governments, with God’s help. This is only the beginning,” he stressed.
From the opposition, Lapid has announced that they will appeal the law to the Supreme Court. “We are not going to give up. We are not going to become Hungary or Poland,” he snapped.
The other great leader of the opposition, Benny Gantz, has criticized this “victory of the extremists”. “They have decided to change our identity and want to drive us into an abyss of hatred, divide us and turn us against each other,” Gantz said, according to ‘The Times of Israel’.
“Those who believe that they have won today will soon discover that it has been a serious mistake for all of us,” he warned before highlighting the massive demonstrations against judicial reform: “they are our hope.” “Everything that has been approved will be annulled and erased from the law book, sooner or later,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s office has announced that he will address the nation this afternoon to report on the approval of the first judicial reform law.
DEMONSTRATIONS
The session was held in the midst of a concentration by tens of thousands of people in front of the Knesset headquarters to protest against the project, amid accusations about an alleged plan by the authorities to carry out an institutional “coup” through the reform project.
The Police have used water cannons during the protest, which has resulted in at least twelve arrests and five slightly injured demonstrators.
Later, a group of protesters has blocked the Begin highway and another group has unsuccessfully charged against the police barriers that protect the Knesset. In Tel Aviv, the epicenter of the protests, protesters have again blocked the Ayalon highway.
Before the vote, Smotrich has denounced that “a violent siege designed to prevent members of the Knesset from exercising their right and duty to vote in plenary session is not democracy.” “This is the Capitol,” he warned, referring to the assault on January 6, 2021 by supporters of former US President Donald Trump who rejected the result of the November elections of the previous year, in which the Democratic candidate and current president, Joe Biden, prevailed.
The Kaplan movement, the main organization behind the call for the protests against the judicial reform, has warned that they will continue to mobilize “until the end”.
“The Government of destruction has voted in the Knesset to crush the State of Israel as we know it. We are going to fight until the bitter end. We are going to continue tenaciously in the fight, which will only end with Israel’s return to democracy,” stressed the group, responsible for the 29 weeks of consecutive protests against the reform.
“The State of Israel belongs to the people of Israel and not to a monarchical regime. Now it is necessary for all of us to step up and fight like never before. Let there be no doubt. We have only just begun,” he stressed.
Critics of the judicial reform argue that it is an attack on Israel’s balance of powers, fundamentally on the foundations on which democracy is based, since it gives Parliament unusual influence to limit judicial powers.
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