Nearly 160,000 protest against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul

• Over 160,000 people protested against the Israeli government’s plans.
• To weaken the legal system.
• With 130,000 taking part in rallies across the nation.

Over 160,000 people protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday night against the Israeli government’s plans to weaken the nation’s legal system.

That would then rank among the largest individual protests against the law to date.

An additional 130,000 protesters, according to the protest’s organizers, took part in other rallies held across the nation on Saturday night.

The figures provided by the organizers have been greater than those provided by unbiased specialists like Grinboim Liron.

For eight weeks, there have been weekly Saturday night protests against the proposed court reforms in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.

The legislation package would grant Israel’s Parliament the authority to overturn Supreme Court rulings with a simple majority.

Additionally, it would grant the government the authority to name judges, a power currently held by a committee made up of judges, legal professionals, and politicians.

The legal advisors to government ministries would lose their authority and independence, and the courts would lose their ability to void “irrational” government appointments, as they did in January when the High Court ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire Interior and Health Minister Aryeh Deri.

This week saw advancements on four legislative provisions that are a part of the reform. On Wednesday, early phases of the process were completed for the legislation that would empower the Knesset to override Supreme Court rulings and that would take away the court’s authority to deem government nominations inappropriate.

These bills now move on to the committee stage.

On Monday, two additional readings were required for two additional clauses to pass initial readings and become law.

Netanyahu is accused by critics of promoting the law to avoid the ongoing corruption investigations he is currently subjected to.

Netanyahu disputes that claim, claiming that the trials are already coming to an end on their own and that the modifications are required due to judicial overreach by unelected judges.

According to a survey conducted last week for the Israel Democracy Institute, roughly two-thirds of Israelis (66%) think the Supreme Court should have the authority to overturn laws that are inconsistent with Israel’s Basic Laws, and a similar percentage (63%) says they support the current system of appointing judges.

Voters supporting the parties in the alliance were much less inclined to oppose the reforms than people who claim to have supported opposing parties.

Just 44% of coalition supporters agreed that the Supreme Court should have the authority to invalidate legislation that are incompatible with Fundamental Laws, compared to nearly eight in ten (87%) of those who voted for the opposition.

About half (47%) of voters for Netanyahu’s Likud party agreed with this statement, which was somewhat higher than the overall percentage.

Israel has a set of laws known as the Basic Laws rather than a written constitution.

According to the study, which was conducted on February 21 and revealed that about half (53%) of Israelis agreed that the country’s economy would suffer if the judiciary’s political independence were removed, as economists and entrepreneurs have been warning.

A third (35%) don’t think the reforms will have a negative impact on the economy.

Between February 9 and February 13, 2023, 756 Israeli people participated in an online and telephone survey with a 3.56 point margin of error.

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