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Thousands of demonstrators blocked roads in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and around Israel in protest last night, after the Parliament passed a law limiting the Supreme Court’s ability to overturn decisions made by government ministers. Some demonstrators yelled, “For shame,” as the police fired water cannons at them.Thousands of demonstrators blocked roads in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and around Israel in protest last night, after the Parliament passed a law limiting the Supreme Court’s ability to overturn decisions made by government ministers. Some demonstrators yelled, “For shame,” as the police fired water cannons at them.
In a televised address last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to quell the intensifying unrest, suggesting that he would table until late November a broader judicial overhaul plan being undertaken by his government.In a televised address last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to quell the intensifying unrest, suggesting that he would table until late November a broader judicial overhaul plan being undertaken by his government.
The country’s nationalist right celebrated the passage of the law, which has become a stand-in for deeper rifts in Israel between those who want a more secular and pluralist state and those with a more religious and nationalist vision. “With God’s help, this will just be the beginning,” an ultranationalist minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, told reporters.The country’s nationalist right celebrated the passage of the law, which has become a stand-in for deeper rifts in Israel between those who want a more secular and pluralist state and those with a more religious and nationalist vision. “With God’s help, this will just be the beginning,” an ultranationalist minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, told reporters.
Response: Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of the opposition, said Netanyahu was in the clutches of the hard-line members of his coalition. “This extremist and messianic government cannot tear our democracy to shreds at noon, and in the evening send Netanyahu to say that he offers negotiations,” he said. “We won’t give up. The struggle has just begun.”Response: Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of the opposition, said Netanyahu was in the clutches of the hard-line members of his coalition. “This extremist and messianic government cannot tear our democracy to shreds at noon, and in the evening send Netanyahu to say that he offers negotiations,” he said. “We won’t give up. The struggle has just begun.”
Analysis: Before his indictment in 2019, Netanyahu was known as a staunch defender of an independent Supreme Court, Isabel Kershner, a Times correspondent in Jerusalem, said. “Even if he did want this law to go through, it is not clear he wanted it to go through like this, in its most extreme form. And when he says he will only proceed with the rest of the overhaul plan within a broad consensus, his many opponents simply do not believe him anymore.”
More detail:
The new law limits the Israeli Supreme Court’s use of the legal concept of “reasonableness” to countermand decisions by ministers. Opposition leaders said they would ask the Supreme Court to rule on the legality of the new law, setting up a potential crisis among the country’s branches of government.
Lawmakers passed the measure, 64-0, yesterday morning, after opposition members walked out of the chamber in protest of the vote.
An alliance of 150 major businesses, including the country’s biggest malls, shuttered their doors before the vote began. More than 10,000 military reservists are threatening to resign from duty, and health care workers will strike today.