Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated Monday in Jerusalem against a justice reform project at the opening of a debate in Parliament on key measures of this text, which they consider to be detrimental to democracy.
Like the previous Monday, a tide of Israeli flags, blue and white, swept over the gardens and streets near the Knesset, access to which was blocked by the police, according to AFP journalists on the spot.
In the absence of an estimate from the police, several Israeli media put the number at more than 40,000 participants.
The protest dispersed in the early evening as tension mounted in the Knesset as preparatory talks began for the first-reading vote on two bills to change the process for appointing judges and introduce a clause “derogation” allowing Parliament to overrule certain decisions of the Supreme Court by a simple majority.
The reform also concerns the reduction of the powers of legal advisers within ministries.
Several opposition deputies, the Israeli flag around their shoulders, caused interruptions of the session, notably by shouting “Shame”, and were temporarily excluded from the plenum by appearances.
Rarely, demonstrators managed to enter the precincts of Parliament, without managing to reach the debate room, before being molested and evacuated by the police.
Around 7:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. GMT), calm had returned, and the debates continued, suggesting a vote in the evening or overnight.
The justice reform project was announced in early January by the government, formed in December by right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with far-right parties and ultra-Orthodox Jewish formations.
The text mobilizes a strong part of public opinion against him. According to its detractors, the reform, by aiming to reduce the influence of the judiciary in favor of political power, threatens the democratic character of the State of Israel.
But for Benjamin Netanyahu and his justice minister Yariv Levin, these changes are necessary to restore a balanced balance of power between elected officials and the Supreme Court, which the Prime Minister and his allies consider politicized.
“The state is in danger,” Dvir Bar, a 45-year-old protester from central Holon, told AFP.
This project “is a coup attempt aimed at transforming Israel into a dictatorship”, believes Mr. Bar.
“Fed up with the corrupt” or “Fascism will not pass,” read banners held up by protesters Monday in Jerusalem, who chanted “Israel is not a dictatorship!” or even “Democracy equals dialogue”.
Mr. Netanyahu turned these accusations against the protesters.
“In a democracy, the people vote in elections, and the representatives of the people vote here in the Knesset,” he said. “Unfortunately, the protest leaders are trampling on democracy. They don’t respect the election results, they don’t respect the decision of the majority.”
In Tel Aviv, demonstrations take place every Saturday evening, bringing together tens of thousands of protesters – a sign of a massive mobilization across the size of the country – denouncing this project as a whole but also the general policy of the government. .
Already on February 13, a monster demonstration took place in front of Parliament as the Law Commission began examining part of the text.
“This is the worst internal crisis that the State of Israel has known […] we will not give up,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said Monday.
“History will not forgive you and history will judge you,” added former defense minister Benny Gantz, another centrist opposition figure.
On Sunday evening, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who plays a mainly ceremonial role, expressed his concerns about “what is happening to Israeli society”.
“We are facing a crucial test. I see the divisions and cracks between us, which are getting deeper and deeper and more painful,” he said.
In the north of Tel Aviv, some 4,000 parents of schoolchildren demonstrated in the morning with their children, joined by members of the teaching staff.
20/02/2023 19:27:28 – Jerusalem (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
