The far-right government wants to curb what it considers too great an influence of the judges. There is strong criticism of it in the legal profession, the business community and other parts of society. Tens of thousands of people recently gathered on Saturday to demonstrate their opposition to the attempt to cement political control over the judiciary.
40,000 people
A crowd of around 40,000 gathered in central Tel Aviv, carrying placards reading “Save Israel’s Democracy from Netanyahu”. Opposition leader Yair Lapid demonstrated in the coastal city of Haifa, where he said protesters “came to save their country”. About 10,000 people took to the streets. Demonstrations took place in about twenty cities.
Netanyahu dismisses the protests as a refusal by leftist opponents to accept last November’s election results.