Thousands of Israelis flocked to the vicinity of the Knesset headquarters in West Jerusalem, today, Monday, in preparation for a huge demonstration, to protest against the draft judicial amendments bill that the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu intended to pass before retracting and temporarily suspending consideration of it, after the crisis that sparked it.
Several other cities, such as Haifa and Beersheba, as well as Tel Aviv, also witnessed angry demonstrations today by opposition supporters.
While the police intensified their security measures, fearing clashes between supporters of the opposition, and supporters of the government from the harsh right wing.
As for the prime minister, who is expected to deliver a speech in the coming hours, he called on the protesters on his Twitter account to act responsibly and refrain from violence. Note that some sources reported that Netanyahu’s advisors advised him to postpone his speech until knowing the size of the demonstrations tonight.
security risk
At the same time, the head of the opposition, Yair Lapid, stressed that the demonstrations should proceed until the judicial amendment law is abolished, considering that the Netanyahu government has become a threat to national security, and that the extremists within it have separated from the people.
He also stressed not to back down before Israel has a written constitution.
While the strike spread across various trade unions and doctors, as well as the electricity sector. Movement was also paralyzed at Ben Gurion Airport, and the ports of Ashdod and Haifa in response to the workers’ strike.
The Foreign Ministry Employees Union called on Israeli embassies around the world to join the strike
In light of these developments, the Al-Arabiya/Al-Hadath correspondent reported that Netanyahu decided to postpone consideration of this project, and suspend it temporarily, in order to absorb the anger of the street.
Ben Gvir is waving his resignation
However, some extremist voices within his government coalition hinted at resignation in the event of his retraction, most notably the Minister of Internal Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, who called for the adoption of the law, considering that retracting it is a surrender to chaos.
The Minister of Information also called on her supporters to go to the streets in case the Prime Minister backed down from the project.
It is noteworthy that this draft law, which ignited the crisis since the beginning of last January, after it was submitted by Minister of Justice Yariv Levin, aims to reduce the powers of the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, in exchange for giving broader powers to the representatives and the government.
