The demonstrators are estimated at several tens of thousands of people by the Israeli media.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
In a sea of blue and white flags, numerous demonstrators against the project to reform the Israeli judicial system met on Monday, February 13, in Jerusalem before the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. Branding signs “save Israeli democracy” or “moral bankruptcy”, they oppose a bill for reforming the judicial system likely to increase the grip of political power on justice.
In the absence of police figures, the Israeli media estimated the crowd to tens of thousands of people. This mobilization, strong at the Israel scale, is coupled with a call to strike. It is part of a protest movement that has lasted for weeks: every Saturday evening, demonstrators, mainly in Tel Aviv, but also in Jerusalem or Haifa (North of Israel), walk against the bill presented in early January by the government.
The latter, considered the right right of the history of Israel, comes from an alliance between the party of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Likoud (right), and religious and extreme right formations . His text plans to increase the power of elected officials on that of magistrates and to considerably limit the capacity of the Supreme Court – considered to be politicized by the government – to invalidate government laws and decisions.
Reform seen as an undemocratic
A “derogatory” clause would thus allow the Knesset to cancel a simple majority a decision of the Supreme Court. While the Israeli Prime Minister is tried for corruption in several cases, the reform could, if adopted, be used to break a possible conviction, advance its detractors.
The Knesset Law Commission began, not without tensions, to vote for certain provisions of the text on Monday, February 13, paving the way for a vote at first reading. “Shame, shame”, chanted the opposition deputies present. A video of the parliamentary channel showed three deputies, including two who had sat on the ground, alpagated by guards and conducted towards the exit.
Sunday evening, the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, had however tried Calle the situation , calling for dialogue in dialogue in dialogue in A television speech. “It is possible to achieve consensus,” he said, proposing to suspend the current legislative process in order to conduct discussions between the different parties.
However, after this speech, the Minister of Justice refused to delay the debates, while saying that he is ready to carry out talks with the opposition. The latter’s response remained just as firm: the fight against the reform “will not stop”, said on Twitter The head of the opposition, Yaïr Lapid. “There is an emergency. We will not let destroy the State of Israel,” said the leaders of the opposition parties.
