Over a Hundred Thousand Israelis March to Protest Netanyahu Government

Critics say Netanyahu’s plan would harm judicial independence, foster corruption and set again minority rights.

Tens of hundreds of Israelis marched in central Tel Aviv and in two different main cities on Saturday night time, protesting far rightwing PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overtake the authorized system and weaken the Supreme Court docket — undermining democratic rule simply weeks after his election.

Regardless of chilly, wet climate, marchers, many coated with umbrellas, held Israeli flags and placards saying “Legal Authorities,” “The Finish of Democracy,” and “We Are Preserving Our Shared Dwelling.” Netanyahu was responsible of a “authorized putsch,” learn one other.

Critics say Netanyahu’s plan would harm judicial independence, foster corruption, set again minority rights, and deprive Israel’s courtroom system of credibility.

Netanyahu and his ultranationalist safety minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered police to take powerful motion if protesters displayed Palestinian flags at Saturday’s protest. Social media footage confirmed numerous Palestinian flags on show in defiance of Netanyahu.

“Elections don’t give anybody the ability to destroy democracy itself,” stated former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni as she addressed the protest in Tel Aviv, including that Israel’s far-right authorities is “finishing up a political takeover of the nation and waging a warfare in opposition to its democratic establishments.”

“Spilled poison, lies, slandering one’s brother, marking as an enemy anybody who thinks in a different way. [They are doing] all the pieces in order that we crumble from the within and weaken as a society earlier than the massive assault,” she stated.

“We’ll cease you, and we is not going to compromise as a result of democracy in Israel, our freedom and our rights are usually not political commerce,” Livni stated. “They will name us traitors, however we’re those who defend the motherland from them. They will threaten handcuffs – we’re not afraid,” she stated.