Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday night for the 21st week in a row to protest against a controversial project to reform the judicial system that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government wants, AFP notes.

Protest in Tel AvivPhoto: JACK GUEZ / AFP / Profimedia

Demonstrations are also taking place in other Israeli cities, such as Haifa (north) and Be’er Sheva (south).

Protesters have been gathering weekly since January to denounce the reform and criticize the government formed in December by Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been accused of corruption in several cases.

On March 27, he announced a legislative “break” to give “a chance (…) for dialogue,” but mobilization against the reform remains strong.

“We will continue our efforts to reach the broadest possible agreement on judicial reform,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday as he welcomed parliament’s passage of the 2023-2024 budget law.

Police have not provided official figures on the number of participants in the demonstrations, but the Israeli press estimated the number of people present at Saturday’s demonstration in Tel Aviv to be in the “tens of thousands”.

Among them, Israel Alva, a technology entrepreneur, condemned the “scandalous” budget for 2023-2024 because it “favors certain sectors and does not take into account the population as a whole.”

Young people are protesting for the future of the country

It is important for him to oppose the judicial reform, because “our DNA is democratic and liberal. We want a life of freedom, not to be told what to do.”

Yael Ben Shalom, a student at Tel Aviv University, is protesting “because some are trying to take control of our system and turn it into something bad” and “destroy the future of the country,” she said.

For the government, one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history, the reform of the judicial system aims, among other things, to restore the balance of powers by reducing the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, which the executive considers politicized, in favor of the parliament.

Opponents of the reform, on the contrary, believe that it risks opening the way to an illiberal or authoritarian drift. (Agerpress)