They were thousands, once again, to take to the streets of Tel Aviv, Saturday, April 15 in the evening, to protest against the reform of justice wanted by the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, which the demonstrators consider as detrimental to democracy.
“Save democracy,” read placards amid a sea of Israeli flags as some protesters lit bengal fires and smoke bombs, Agence France-Presse journalists found.
Other more modest demonstrations took place in other Israeli cities, in Haifa (north) and Jerusalem in particular, as well as in Modiin in the center of Israel, in front of the house of the Minister of Justice Yariv Levin.
Mobilization started at the beginning of January
Since the announcement of the reform project in early January, tens of thousands of Israelis have gathered every week to denounce the text and shout down the government formed in December by Benyamin Netanyahu, one of the most right-wingers in Israel. . The latter announced on March 27 a "pause" to give a "chance […] to dialogue", after an intensification of the protest, the start of a general strike and the appearance of tensions within the majority, but the mobilization against the reform remains strong.
For the government, the text aims, among other things, to rebalance powers by reducing the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, which the executive considers politicized, for the benefit of Parliament. Critics of the reform believe, on the contrary, that it risks opening the way to an authoritarian drift.
The new protest comes as US ratings agency Moody's announced on Friday that it was lowering Israel's credit outlook from "positive" to "stable". This change in perspective reflects, according to the agency, "a deterioration in the governance of Israel, as illustrated by recent events surrounding the government's proposal to reform the country's judicial system".
"While the mass protests have led the government to suspend legislation and seek dialogue with the opposition, the way the government has attempted to implement far-reaching reform without seeking broad consensus indicates a weakening of institutional strength,” she adds.
