Day of maximum tension in the street and the Knesset for Netanyahu's judicial reform

• Tens of thousands of people have gathered outside Parliament as lawmakers try to pass bills in the process led by Benjamin Netanyahu's government to limit powers to the judiciary

Yair Lapid He has said it loud and clear: “If you care about Israel, you will stop the legislation today.” But the words of the former prime minister and opposition leader have not stopped the ruling coalition. In the middle of a day of maximum tensionBoth on the streets and in the institutions, the extreme right-wing government led by Binyamin Netanyahu has debated for hours the first bill to reform the legal system of the country. ;s. The thousands of Israelis gathered outside the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, have been joined by warnings from military and business leaders warning of the dangers of judicial reform and calls to the moderation of the United States.

Tens of thousands of people managed to gather in front of the institutional building on a working Monday while legislators debated the first vote on a package of laws. This is the second week in a rowSo the Israeli society has gone on strike and has mobilized to protest against the controversial action of the new Executive. Meanwhile, the weekly demonstrations continue to gather tens of thousands every Saturday in the main cities, awakening a movement that has already been baptized as the “Israeli Spring” and that dyes the country with fear. s of white and blue flags. Even so, the deputies of the most right-wing government in the history of Israel have been turning a deaf ear to their claims for two months now. 

First reading of three

< p>“The protesters are putting an end to Israeli democracy“, denounced Netanyahu. In turn, the controversial Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, has criticized the police for allowing protesters to block roads and intersections. While the protests took Jerusalem and its accesses to the city, the opposition deputies have prolonged the debate in the Knesset to prevent the first bills of the judicial reform from passing their initial reading of a total of three. These were approved last week by the Research Committee. Constitution, Law and Justice of the Knesset. They seek to transform the judicial election process, effectively putting judicial appointments under full government control. 

In addition, the new legislation seeks to prevent that the Supreme Courtexercise supervision of the basic laws, which act as a constitution in a country without a Magna Carta. All these measures would deprive the judiciary of its powers. According to Netanyahu and his ultra-religious and ultra-nationalist allies , the courts and government legal advisers have been given too much say in how law is made and decisions are made. “It's all part of his attempt to politicize the courts,” denounces Gideon Rahatfrom the Israel Democracy Institute. The Prime Minister is not the only one in his Cabinet involved in lawsuits with the law, but he is. that it is the one that has the most to lose.

US reproaches

These measures can be implemented shortly because the coalition has a majority of 64 seatsin a Parliament with 120 deputies. Justice Minister Yariv Levin is confident that the “first phase” of judicial transformation will be successful. completed before Passover, in early April. The day of this Monday and the previous one have staged, once again, the anchored division in which it is located. Israel installed. People of all political stripes, but especially from the center and the left, are standing by. committed to fighting on the streets to avoid “losing democracy and even the State”, Rahat points out for this newspaper. “Judicial reform is a direct threat to Israeli democracy, the rule of law, the constitution and the system of checks and balances that balances the three powers,” adds the researcher. Israeli. 

From the United States, the first reproaches of its faithful ally have already been heard. “We are telling the prime minister, as I tell my children, pump the brakes, slow down, try to get a consensus and bring the parties together,” he said. US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, told CNN. In addition, the hectic debate in the Knesset comes on the same day that the United Nations Security Council formally denounces the Israeli plan to attack. to expand settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. This is the first action against Israel that the US has allowed the body to take in six years.