Despite massive protests, Israel’s right-wing religious government plans to push ahead with its plan to weaken the judicial system. After nationwide demonstrations, strikes are also planned for Monday.
According to the organizers, more than 200,000 Israelis protested against the course of the right-wing religious government at demonstrations in Tel Aviv and other cities. In the coastal city of Tel Aviv, protesters marched through the streets with Israeli flags for the sixth straight Saturday night. The protests, which also took place in cities such as Jerusalem, Beersheva and Haifa, are primarily directed against government plans to specifically weaken the country’s judicial system.
The demonstrators observed a minute’s silence in memory of the three Israeli victims of a Palestinian attack on Friday in east Jerusalem. The 31-year-old assassin from East Jerusalem drove his car into a crowd near the Ramot neighborhood. Two brothers aged six and eight and a 20-year-old were killed. The assassin was shot dead by police officers.
Netanyahu announces “widespread deployment”.
Israeli security forces sealed off his parents’ home in East Jerusalem on Saturday, which is later set to be demolished. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also announced on Sunday a “broad-scale operation” against Palestinian assassins and their helpers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The right-wing extremist police minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, had previously spoken of a military offensive in the Arab-dominated eastern part of Jerusalem.
Demonstrations against a controversial judicial reform have been taking place in Israel for several weeks. Strikes by numerous professional groups and a large demonstration in front of the parliament in Jerusalem are also planned for Monday. At that time, some of the controversial innovations are to be approved there in the first reading.
Warning against conversion to dictatorship
The 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Avram Hershko, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004, warned at a demonstration in Haifa against an “attempt to transform Israel from a democracy into a dictatorship”. In a speech to other demonstrators, the biochemist, who was born in Hungary in 1937, demanded: “We have to stop this madness.”
The violence in the Palestinian territories continued on Saturday. A 27-year-old Palestinian was shot dead in a confrontation with Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on Saturday. Militant Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired another rocket at the Israeli border area on Saturday evening.
The security situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories has been extremely tense for weeks. Nine Israelis and one Ukrainian have been killed in Palestinian attacks since the beginning of the year. Raids by the Israeli army and their own attacks killed 45 Palestinians this year alone.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
