Thousands of Israelis demonstrated on Saturday for the seventh consecutive week against a judiciary bill that would reduce the independence of the judiciary, backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Like every Saturday night since Mr. Netanyahu's government took office in December, protesters numbered in the tens of thousands in central Tel Aviv, according to local media.
Waving Israeli flags and chanting the word "Democracy", they hoped to make their voices heard as far as the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, where deputies could vote on part of this controversial reform on Monday.
"Our future is in danger," exclaimed Amit Melamed, a 24-year-old law student, to AFP. If Israel "isn't a democracy, then there's no point in us staying here."
At the beginning of January, Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced a reform plan including the introduction of an "escape clause" allowing parliament to overrule a Supreme Court decision by a simple majority.
This reform aims to increase the power of elected officials over that of magistrates. It puts, according to its detractors, in danger the democratic character of the State of Israel.
Benjamin Netanyahu's government "is trying to sabotage the democracy that has been in place for 75 years", considers a protester, Nati Ron. "I lost friends in the war, they didn't die for a dictatorship."
For Messrs. Netanyahu and Levin say the bill is needed to restore a balanced balance of power between elected officials and the Supreme Court, which the prime minister and his allies say is politicized.
On February 12, Israeli President Isaac Herzog -- a mostly figurative role in Israel's political landscape -- addressed the nation in a televised speech, calling for dialogue in a country "on the brink of constitutional and social collapse. ".
He called on Netanyahu to pause the legislative process and talk to the opposition in order to reach a compromise.
In Jerusalem, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the presidential residence, while in Netanya, a coastal city north of Tel Aviv, opposition leader Yair Lapid accused the prime minister of wanting to serve his personal interests with this reform.
Mr. Netanyahu himself being tried for corruption in several cases, if the reform were adopted, it could be used to quash a possible conviction, argue his detractors.
Having a "majority in Parliament does not mean (...) that they can abolish the Supreme Court just because the Prime Minister has been indicted," Lapid said.
18/02/2023 21:46:51 Tel Aviv (AFP) © 2023 AFP
