Netanyahu presses the accelerator of judicial reform despite mass protests

With nighttime, the Israeli Parliament has approved the first reading of two key provisions of the controversial judicial reform, in a turbulent parliamentary session that began on Monday at 4:00 and has lasted until Tuesday at noon.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
21 February 2023 Tuesday 05:24
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Netanyahu presses the accelerator of judicial reform despite mass protests

With nighttime, the Israeli Parliament has approved the first reading of two key provisions of the controversial judicial reform, in a turbulent parliamentary session that began on Monday at 4:00 and has lasted until Tuesday at noon. The text, which has been accepted by a vote of 63 to 47, plans to cement government control over the appointment of judges and restrict the ability of the Supreme Court to strike down laws passed by Parliament that may be considered unconstitutional.

The opposition denounces that the legislation shows the anti-democratic drift that Israel is following under the far-right coalition headed by Beniamin Netanyahu, and criticizes that the prime minister has a conflict of interest, since the reform could affect the outcome of his ongoing corruption trial. in the future.

The streets of Jerusalem were filled yesterday with tens of thousands of people who came out to protest against the controversial plan in front of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, while, indoors, the deputies celebrated the initial vote on the bill. Some protesters, who managed to break into the plenary observation room at the start of the debate, had to be dragged away by police forces.

During the debate, one of the promoters of the judicial review plan, Simcha Rothman, made it clear that the government will not back down on the bill, and called for "responsibility" on the opposition to pass it with "a broad vision." For his part, the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, urged the deputies of the current government to stop the vote if "they care about Israel" and warned that the controversial reform is "dividing the town in two". Another opposition lawmaker, Ram Ben Barak, was even tougher on Netanyahu's administration when he compared it to the regime in Nazi Germany, which "also came to power democratically."

The country's president, Isaac Herzog, this morning urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to seek dialogue to reach a consensus on judicial reform, after tonight's intense debate. "Many citizens of Israeli society, many people who voted for the coalition, fear for national unity," Herzog told a conference organized by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

For seven weeks now, the blue and white flags have been waving every Saturday on the streets of the entire country, in protests against the judicial reform, which some media have hastened to call the Israeli spring. But apart from the citizens of Israel, the plan has also drawn warnings from the United States, Israel's main international ally. The US ambassador to the country, Tom Nides, warned in a podcast over the weekend that Israel should "hold back" on passing the legislation and seek consensus on reform that would protect Israel's institutions.