By: Eleanor Liang

Thousands of protesters marched to Jerusalem on Saturday July 22,2023, some having walked 40 miles from Tel Aviv. The protests emphasize the huge opposition to the government’s plan to restrain the judiciary. The new law would prevent the court from overruling the national government using the legal standard of reasonableness.

“A miles-long column of anti government demonstrators marched into Jerusalem on Saturday evening, turning the main road to the city into a sea of blue-and-white Israeli flags, to protest the far-right government’s plan to limit judicial power,” the New York Times reports.

Despite the scorching heat of around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, many protesters continued marching from Tel Aviv, highlighting the determination of the protestors to convey their strong disagreement regarding the anti-judicial government plans.

“I think this is the only place to be right now,” said Ilana Holzman, one of the protesters. “Not at the beach and not in the air-conditioning. Here you see the people of Israel at their best. It’s terribly hot, but they are marching on.”

Holzman’s determined speech represents the other protesters’ mindsets, reflecting the intensity of emotion coursing through Israeli society this weekend, and their strong dispute about reducing the judiciary.

Hundreds of thousands of other protesters held similar rallies in scores of cities across the country for the 29th consecutive week. A group representing military reservists from all branches of the army announced that about 10,000 Israeli citizens have declared that they would stop showing up for reserve duty if the law was passed.

“The country’s largest union, the Histadrut, announced Saturday night that it was holding an emergency meeting in response to the government’s plan, amid speculation that it could call a general strike,” the New York Times announced.

The law at stake would prevent the court from overruling the national government using the standard of reasonableness, a concept that judges used to block ministerial appointments and to contest planning decisions, among other government measures.

According to the New York Times, on that Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was taken to the hospital and put under sedation in order to receive a pacemaker implant because of his heart problems.

Negotiations to reach a compromise over the judicial dispute are still underway and could result in the plan being postponed. For now, however, lawmakers are expected to hold a binding vote on the law on Monday in Parliament.

The government and its supporters claim that the new law will improve democracy by restoring the balance of power between elected and unelected politicians and lawmakers, giving them more freedom to implement the policies that the majority of voters choose.

“The proper balance between the authorities has been disturbed over the past decades,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a speech Thursday. “This balance must be restored so that the democratic choice of the people may find expression by the government that was elected by the people.”

However, in large parts of the country, including the marchers on Saturday, citizens say the legislation actually undermines democracy because it will remove a key check on government overreach. They say that this might allow the current government — the most ultraconservative in Israeli history — to build a much less pluralist society.

“We’re marching because the government, to make a long story short, is trying to turn us into a dictatorship,” said Navot Silberstein, one of the determined protesters. “We won’t live in a country where the government has too much power over us,” Mr. Silberstein added, his shirt drenched in sweat after walking for hours in the sun.

This disagreement is part of a wider dispute about the future of Israel. Many protesters fear the legislation will make it easier for the government to force citizens to practice public life like gender segregation in public areas. Others think this new law would make it easier for government leaders to get away with corruption, or for Mr. Netanyahu, who is currently on trial for bribery, to escape punishment, a claim he strongly denies.

“The fear is our country won’t look like what it looks like today!”says Ilana Holzman.

Sources: