According to police reports, 42 people were arrested across the country by late morning. The police declared that they would guarantee the freedom to demonstrate while maintaining law and order.
“I came here because this government is completely destroying democracy in Israel,” said doctor Eitan Galon, protesting on a street outside Jerusalem. “We will fight to the end,” he continued, while nearby police used water cannon to disperse protesters.
Near the Israeli parliament, the Knesset in Jerusalem, demonstrators waved the Israeli flag and banged drums. The police used mounted officers.
The Knesset had adopted a core element of the controversial judicial reform in the first reading on Tuesday night. According to the draft law, the Supreme Court will no longer be able to classify government decisions as “inappropriate”. Critics fear that high-ranking positions will be filled arbitrarily and that the reform will encourage corruption.
The ultra-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argues that the judiciary is disproportionately involved in political decisions. A second and third reading is required to pass the law. On Tuesday afternoon, the bill is to be debated further in Parliament’s Judiciary Committee before returning to the plenary session.
The Supreme Court recently opposed the appointment of Netanyahu’s preferred minister, Arie Deri, with the so-called “appropriateness clause,” which was at stake in the vote in parliament on Tuesday night. The judges had argued that the appointment as Minister of the Interior and Health was “inappropriate” and therefore invalid because of Deri’s multiple convictions, including corruption.
The organizers of the protests, which have been going on for months, had announced mass rallies for Tuesday. A demonstration in front of the US embassy in Tel Aviv was also planned for the evening. The US is Israel’s most important ally.
US President Joe Biden said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that he hoped Netanyahu would “move further towards moderation and change”.
The judicial reform of the right-wing religious government coalition is rejected by large parts of the population, including members of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party. Opponents of the reform see this as a serious threat to democracy in Israel. Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating across the country against the project since the beginning of the year.
Netanyahu put the plans on hold at the end of March after a general strike. A compromise with the opposition mediated by President Isaac Herzog did not materialize.
Opposition leader Jair Lapid sharply criticized Tuesday night’s debate and spoke of “this damned government”. He vowed that the bill would not make it through the second and third readings.
The chairman of the Histadrut union federation, Arnon Bar-David, addressed Netanyahu: “It’s your turn.” Declaring a general strike is not “child’s play,” he continued. “But if I have the feeling that all options have been exhausted and we are in an extreme situation, we will act.”
