2023-08-02 22:29:55
Demonstration in Tel Aviv against justice reform, Wednesday August 2, 2023. JACK GUEZ / AFP
The anger does not weaken in Israel against the reform of justice. Several thousand demonstrators gathered again on Wednesday August 2 in Tel Aviv to protest against the vote by Parliament of part of this project dear to the right-wing government. “You have ruined the country, and we are going to fix it”, “Democracy, Democracy” shouted the demonstrators in this city which has become the center of the protest movement since January. Driven by the coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes far-right parties and ultra-Orthodox Jews, the reform, which deeply divides the country, has triggered the largest protest movement in its history.
Despite the protests, the Prime Minister and his coalition got Parliament to approve on July 24 an important clause that limits the possibility for the Supreme Court to invalidate a government decision if it does not ” reasonable “. The reform aims to increase the power of elected officials in relation to that of magistrates. The government believes that it is necessary to ensure a better balance of powers, but its detractors see it as a threat to democracy, and fear that it opens the way to an authoritarian drift.
Concern of allied countries
“I am against the government, it only puts power in the hands of a single authority”said Roei Ben Haim, a 40-year-old protester, on Wednesday. “There is no democracy without the Supreme Court”, shouted the demonstrators. The rallies drew Israelis from all political and social backgrounds, secular or religious, peace activists, blue-collar or tech workers, but also army reservists.
The plan has also raised concern from foreign countries allied with Israel, notably the United States, where Democratic President Joe Biden has called on the country’s leaders not to rush to impose a reform that is “increasingly divisive”.
Read the editorial: Benyamin Netanyahu the divider
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