Thousands of Israelis press on with protests against judicial changes

Tens of thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday against judicial changes planned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government that protesters say will threaten democratic checks and balances on ministers by the courts.

The plans, which the government says are needed to curb overreach by activist judges, have drawn fierce opposition from groups including lawyers, and raised concern among business leaders. 

“They want to turn us into a dictatorship, they want to destroy democracy,” said the head of the Israeli Bar Association, Avi Chimi. “They want to destroy judicial authority. There is no democratic country without a judicial authority.”

Netanyahu has dismissed the protests, now in their third week, as a refusal by leftist opponents to accept the results of last November’s election, which produced one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history.

The protesters say the future of Israeli democracy is at stake if the government succeeds in pushing through the plans, which would tighten political control over judicial appointments and limit supreme court powers to overturn government decisions or Knesset laws.

As well as threatening the independence of judges and weakening oversight of the government and parliament, they say the plans will undermine the rights of minorities and open the door to more corruption.

“We are fighting for democracy,” said Amnon Miller, among crowds of protesters, many bearing Israeli flags. “We fought in this country in the army for 30 years for our freedom and we won’t let this government take our freedom.”

Saturday’s protests in central Tel Aviv come days after the supreme court ordered Netanyahu to fire interior minister Aryeh Deri, who leads the religious Shas party, over a recent tax conviction.

The new government, which took office in January, is an alliance between Netanyahu’s Likud party and a clutch of smaller religious and hard-right nationalist parties which say they have a mandate for sweeping change.

Netanyahu, who is himself on trial on corruption charges which he denies, has defended the judicial reform plans, which are being examined by a parliamentary committee, saying they will restore a proper balance between the three branches of government.

Likud politicians have long accused the supreme court of being dominated by leftist judges, who they say encroach on areas outside their authority for political reasons. The court’s defenders say it plays a vital role in holding the government to account in a country that has no formal constitution.

A survey released by the Israel Democracy Institute last week showed trust in the supreme court was markedly higher among left-wing than right-wing Israelis, but that there was no overall support for weakening the court’s powers.

Reuters