Marking the 10th consecutive day, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets rallying across cities in Israel making this the largest protest in the country’s history.
Israeli media puts the count of the protestors rallying across cities such as Haifa and Tel Aviv in Israel at about 500,000 protestors, a number never seen before in the history of protests in Israel.
The uproar on the streets came soon after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government introduced new judicial reforms.
These judicial reforms will give the elected government complete control and influence over the choice of judges elected in Israel while also limiting the judicial abilities and powers of the supreme court.
Additionally, the new reforms also aim to strike down the supreme court’s powers to rule against the executive and the supreme court’s powers to strike down legislation’s.
It is being said by critics that these reforms will undermine the democracy in the country’s governance ultimately affecting public order and liberty.
The judicial reforms have caused a massive uproar and divide in Israel’s population and society. Israeli reservists that is, those who act as the backbone of Israel’s military are threatening to refuse to serve the nation as a form of protest and opposition against the new reforms.
In addition to the reservists, dozens of Israeli fighter pilots refused to show up for training as a gesture of opposition and resistance.
Protestors in dozens have also made attempts to block roads to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from flying out of the country to Roam on Thursday.
In the city of Netanya, hundreds of “handmaids” dressed in red clothes held a silent vigil at night. Former leader of the Labor party Amram Mitzna also voiced solidarity with the former district commander of Tel Aviv who was dismissed and ousted from his post on Thursday for showing his sympathy and leniency towards the protestors. He was ousted by Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai who was pressured by the National Security Minister Itmar Ben-Gvir.
Israel’s former police chief Moshe Karadi also spoke in the Tel Aviv protests stating that Israel is facing the biggest danger it has since its war of independence in 1948.
The leader of the opposition in Israel’s parliament Yair Lapid addressed crowds in Be’er Sheva saying that Israel is currently facing its greatest crisis in history. He further added that the Israeli ruling party only cares about “crushing democracy” as the economy of Israel is crashing and a “wave of terrorism” is hitting Israel.
While no formal response has been received from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, they have however continued to hold firm ground throughout the protests claiming that the reforms aim to achieve the best interests in the long run and that the protests are also being fuelled by the political opposition in the country.
Prime Minister Netanyahu says that the judicial reforms will only prevent the judiciary from overreaching its powers and that when the Israeli public voted for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government in the last election they also voted for these reforms.
Critics have repeatedly cited that this curb in the judiciary powers could lead to an authoritarian form of government in Israel thus endangering its democracy.
Organizers of the protests announced another day of protests meant to “escalate the resistance” stating that in the previous weeks of protests, one day of protest was designated for a “day of resisting dictatorship” and a “day of disruption. Protestors continue to have major clashes with the police.