Israelis protest against Netanyahu judiciary reform bid
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Israeli settlers once again take to the streets to protest the government's plans to reform the judiciary.
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Israelis protest against the plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government to overhaul the judicial system, in "Tel Aviv", occupied Palestine, February 4, 2023 (AP Photo)
Israeli settlers have taken to the streets in the thousands to protest the government's judiciary reforms, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday.
Israeli occupation's Justice Minister Yariv Levin rolled out a legal reform package that would limit the authority of the High Court of Justice and give the cabinet control over the selection of new judges.
The planned overhaul drew public criticism and prompted a wave of mass protests, with protestors on Saturday marching along "Ibn Gabirol" Street, with the city center closed to traffic due to the number of settlers filling the street, Sputnik reported.
Some 20,000 Israelis took to the streets of "Tel Aviv" in mid-January to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, which has been criticized various times as being the most far-right government in Israeli history.
Israeli occupation Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday that he could not take part in his government's efforts to fundamentally reform the legal and judicial system because "he has a conflict of interest due to his ongoing corruption trial."
Protestors carried signs with slogans condemning the government and calling it a "government of shame", calling for "bring[ing] down the dictator", AFP reported.
The Israeli occupation forces estimated that some 20,000 protesters were on the street, with the organizers claiming there were "several tens of thousands" of protesters.
The demonstrators repeated chants against the new Israeli occupation government and some of its extremist ministers such as Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich.
Following his November 1 election win, Netanyahu took office late last month at the head of a coalition with extreme-right and Zionist parties, some of whose officials now head key ministries. The new occupation government has announced intentions to pursue a policy of settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Moreover, the protesters called on the corruption-embattled PM to resign from office just a month after he assumed.
Illustrating the increasingly stark division between Israelis, the president of Israeli occupation’s Supreme Court Esther Hayut lashed out at the "judicial reform plan" proposed by Netanyahu's cabinet, stressing that it "would crush the justice system."
Hayet begins her speech at a conference of the Israeli Association of Public Law, likely the harshest speech ever delivered by a serving Supreme Court president against a ruling coalition, by noting that "a few days ago, the new justice minister presented a lightning plan for far-reaching changes in the justice system."
"In practice," she charges, "it amounts to an unrestrained attack on the justice system, as though it was an enemy that had to be rushed and defeated."
"With great cynicism, the architects of the plan call it a plan to correct the judicial system.’ And I say, it is a plan to crush the judicial system. It is intended to deliver a fatal blow to the independence and autonomy of the judicial system and silence it" she added.
The rally also included pro-Palestinian slogans, with one sign reading: "There's no democracy with the occupation."
Political divisions in "Israel" between the government and the opposition are escalating in light of the exchange of accusations of responsibility for the possible outbreak of an "internal war".
Israeli occupation President Isaac Herzog said during a speech on the 27th anniversary of the killing of former Israeli occupation Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin that "the complicated political status quo in Israel poses somewhat of a historic challenge for us."
Meanwhile, former Israeli occupation Security Minister Benny Gantz called on Israelis to take to the streets in protest of changes to the Israeli judicial system that Netanyahu's cabinet proposed.
Political divisions in "Israel" between the government and the opposition are escalating in light of the exchange of accusations of responsibility for the possible outbreak of an "internal war".
