Tens of hundreds of Israelis protest in opposition to justice reform plans

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Tens of hundreds of Israelis braved heavy rain on Saturday for a fifth week of protests in opposition to judicial reform plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new authorities that critics say threaten democratic checks on ministers by the courts.

The plans, which the federal government says are wanted to curb overreach by judges, have drawn fierce opposition from teams together with legal professionals, and raised issues amongst enterprise leaders, widening already deep political divisions in Israeli society.

“I am right here tonight protesting in opposition to the transition of Israel from a democracy to an autocracy,” Dov Levenglick, 48, a software program engineer informed Reuters in Tel Aviv.

“It is a shame, it shall not stand.”

Netanyahu has dismissed the protests as a refusal by leftist opponents to simply accept the outcomes of final November’s election, which produced one of the right-wing governments in Israel’s historical past.

The protesters say Israeli democracy could be undermined if the federal government succeeds in pushing by way of the plans, which might tighten political management over judicial appointments and restrict the Supreme Court docket’s powers to overturn authorities choices or Knesset legal guidelines.

“They wish to tear up the judiciary system of Israel, they wish to tear up Israeli democracy, and we’re right here each week in each climate … to battle in opposition to it and to battle for Israeli democracy,” Hadar Segal, 35, informed Reuters in Tel Aviv.

Opposition chief Yair Lapid joined demonstrations within the coastal metropolis of Haifa, the place he stated protesters “got here to save lots of their nation, and we got here to protest with them.”

(Reporting by Emily Rose; Enhancing by Mark Potter)