Thousands of Israeli flags today led the demonstrations against the controversial judicial reform promoted by the Government while the internal fracture increases with sporadic outbreaks of violence. The images of the massive protest in the last two months in Israel explain why the manufacturers of blue and white flags with the Star of David have serious problems to satisfy the demand.
Another product with a lot of demand, but still without an attractive offer is a consensus legal ‘road map’ that serves to avoid the national abyss. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the one announced by President Isaac Herzog but is in favor of watering down his proposal. The question is whether his Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, known for his crusade against the Supreme Court (TS), will give him the necessary margin to settle such a monumental internal crisis that accompanies him on his visits abroad such as his recent ones to France and Germany. Instead of talking about the Iranian nuclear plan, Bibi must answer questions about his government’s judicial plan.
The initiative that Herzog announced on Wednesday on a new balance in the relations between the judiciary and the executive lasted just a few minutes. The time it took for the ultra-conservative coalition to criticize it, considering that it even worsens the current situation that it is now trying to change in the Knesset.
The government’s refusal gave more strength to the tens of thousands of Israelis who took to the streets against what they see as an “attack against democracy.” “The project breaks the principle of the separation of powers that is basic in democracy. The Government that has a majority in Parliament wants to also have control of the judicial power,” laments Yuval Rivosh to EL MUNDO. This university student admits that he does not know if the demonstrations will prevent the approval of amendments such as giving the coalition a majority in the selection of judges or shielding the laws before the Supreme Court. “I only know that my obligation is to demonstrate,” he adds in Tel Aviv, which once again was the heart of the protest.
But the day of vindication began in Jerusalem at dawn with red graffiti on the street that leads to the headquarters of the Supreme Court and continued with the protest of reservists in the port of Haifa. “We appeal to stop the madness. The price is not worth it, don’t let the country sink,” asked one of them. While some ex-servicemen began a march from the north to the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, others demonstrated in the ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak demanding that they also do military service.
Tel Aviv was the scene of multiple acts of protest and sporadic clashes between police and demonstrators when they blocked the central Ayalon highway shouting “democracy!”. Hours earlier, at that intersection that bears the symbolic name of HaShalom (Peace), a group identified as “Religious, Zionists, Democrats” held a sit-in. “I have come here to Tel Aviv to show that it is a protest by secularists and religious like me. I am worried about the division in Israel,” confessed a young woman on the verge of tears and in the antipodes of the party called “Religious Zionism” that is part of of the government.
Dozens of women, led by the singer Efrat Gosh, marched dressed in the red dress from the dystopian ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, which has become one of the most powerful symbols of the fight in favor of the judicial system as a guarantor of women’s rights. and minorities.
“Bibi has been kidnapped by lunatics” or “Biden, we have a problem” were some of the banners at the demonstrations in front of the US, German, UK and French embassy. After cutting off traffic, protester Shai Noter was attacked by a driver. “The one who attacked me acted due to the incitement of hate against us. Netanyahu called us anarchists and his son tweeted that we are terrorists,” he denounced with a bloody nose. The increase in verbal and sometimes physical violence sets off alarm bells and recalls Herzog’s dramatic warning of a civil war in the most extreme scenario.
But the protest that can have the most effect on Netanyahu took place the day before yesterday at the Ben Gurion airport when veterans who intervened in the rescue of Entebbe in 1976 participated in the convoy of cars in what they called “Operation Beniamin.” An allusion to the famous “Operation Yonatan” in honor of his admired partner in the Sayeret Matcal unit and brother of Netanyahu who died during the rescue of hostages kidnapped by Palestinians and Germans. Amir Ofer, one of the first soldiers along with Yoni Netanyahu to leave the Hercules that landed by surprise in Entebbe, asked the prime minister “to return to the path of contributing to the State instead of destroying it. We will do everything that is legal and not violent to defend democracy”.
The Government clarifies that the protests will not prevent the processing of the reform by ensuring that it has the legitimacy of the polls held on November 1 and that it “reinforces democracy in the face of the interventionism of judges” but ensures that it will moderate it either in a negotiation or between them. It is unlikely that it will waive the requirement of a majority in the appointment of judges, alleging that this is the case in the majority of countries of reference.
“Herzog’s plan is not perfect but it is a fair compromise. The alternative is critical damage to the economy and national security and an angry and torn nation,” opposition chief Yair Lapid said. The president is not giving up and will continue to try to find consensus in a country so tense that, in his words, he has turned long-awaited Shabbat family dinners into “war zones.”
According to the criteria of The Trust Project