Tens of thousands of protesters on Tuesday blocked highways and train stations and massed in central Tel Aviv during a day of countrywide demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul plan.
ADVERTISEMENTThe protests, now in their seventh month, have taken on a sense of urgency in recent days as Netanyahu and his allies in parliament march ahead with the program. The first bill in the package – a measure that seeks to limit the Supreme Court’s oversight powers – could become law as soon as next week.
The unrest also cast a shadow over a visit to the White House by Israel’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, who was invited to Washington to celebrate Israel’s 75th anniversary.
Herzog, a political centrist, has been involved in behind-the-scenes efforts to broker a compromise on the judicial overhaul, which has strained relations between Netanyahu and President Joe Biden.
In a meeting with Biden in the Oval Office, Herzog acknowledged that Israel was “going through a heated debate as a society.” But he said that debate shows that Israeli society is “strong and resilient.” He added that the country should seek an “amicable consensus.”
Biden, who has criticised the overhaul plan, said that the US commitment to Israel was strong and the bond between the two countries was “unbreakable”.
Netanyahu and his allies say the overhaul is needed to rein in the powers of an unelected judiciary - particularly the Supreme Court - that they believe is overly interventionist in government decisions.
Their opponents, representing a wide cross-section of Israeli society, say the plan is a power grab by Netanyahu and his ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies that will destroy the country’s fragile system of checks and balances. They also say the prime minister, who is on trial for corruption charges, and his allies are motivated by various grievances against the justice system.
Late Tuesday, protesters thronged outside the US diplomatic offices, packed the central square of Tel Aviv and crippled the city's main highway. Police on horseback galloped among the crowds, trying to clear them away.
Earlier, protesters gathered outside Israel’s stock exchange and military headquarters. Business leaders have repeatedly warned that a weakened legal system will deter foreign investors. Reservists in key military units, including fighter pilots and cyber warfare agents, have threatened to stop reporting for duty.
Demonstrators, many of them reservists, created human chains and blocked one of the entrances to Israel’s military headquarters in central Tel Aviv.
Protesters flooded train stations during afternoon rush hour. Many blew horns or held up blue and white Israeli flags.
Outside the Tel Aviv stock exchange, demonstrators ignited smoke bombs, drummed and chanted, and held up signs reading “save our startup nation.”
“We came to the stock exchange because this is the symbol of what this craziness of dictatorship is doing to Israel’s economy,” said protester Tzvia Bader. “We’ve become a third-world country. There is no chance for our economy.”
A group of 161 reservists signed a letter to the commander of the Israeli air force saying they would not report for duty, and that the overhaul was “leading to dictatorship.” Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, warned that a refusal to report for duty “harms the army and the security of the state of Israel.”
The Israel Medical Association also announced that doctors would hold a two-hour strike in protest of the legislation Wednesday. Emergency operations will proceed as normal, said Dr Hagai Levine, a former head of Israel’s Association of public health doctors.
Police said at least 45 people were arrested on public disturbance charges.