Thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday September 9 in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities against a controversial justice reform project, a few days before a deadline considered crucial for the rest of the process, journalists from the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The announcement of the government project at the beginning of January gave rise to one of the most important protest movements that the country has known since its creation in 1948. The camp of opponents to the reform thus demonstrates every Saturday evening, mainly in Tel- Aviv, but also in many cities of the country.
The demonstration took place a few days before a hearing at the Supreme Court to examine appeals filed against one of the key points of the reform, adopted by Parliament in July and aimed precisely at limiting the powers of the Supreme Court that the right and Jewish religious parties consider it politicized.
Guardrails
“The Supreme Court is supreme,” read a banner at the rally. Binyamin Netanyahu “has been taken hostage by the messianic settlers who are trying to make a revolution”, one protester, Josh Drill, told AFP, referring to the Israeli prime minister, head of one of the most powerful governments. to the right of Israel’s history.
Several thousand Israelis demonstrated Thursday evening in Jerusalem in support of the reform project. According to the government, the reform aims, among other things, to rebalance powers, by reducing the prerogatives of the Supreme Court to the benefit of Parliament.
Opponents of the reform, for their part, fear that the proposed changes, by removing safeguards against the action of the legislative and executive power, will tip Israeli democracy towards an illiberal system. They accuse Mr. Netanyahu, on trial for several corruption cases, of conflict of interest and of wanting this reform to get out of his legal troubles.
