Groups opposing the government’s judicial regulation have gathered in Sacher Park, located near the Israeli Assembly in West Jerusalem, since morning.
From the evening hours, tens of thousands of people continue their demonstrations in front of the Israeli Assembly against the judicial regulation of the Netanyahu government.
Health workers call for strike
Thousands of health workers in Israel also protested the judicial regulation.
Health workers gathered at the Israel Convention Center in West Jerusalem called for a strike against the government’s judicial regulation.
Israel Medical Association President Zion Hagay, in his speech here, said that if the draft law that will lift the Supreme Court’s control over the government is passed by the Parliament, they will apply to the Supreme Court to appeal the law.
Groups supporting the government’s judicial regulation also took to the streets
Right-wing and far-right groups that support the judicial regulation of the Netanyahu coalition in Israel also gathered in the capital Tel Aviv.
Tens of thousands of people showed up with Israeli flags on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, which has become the focal point of anti-government protests, to support the Netanyahu coalition in judicial regulation.
Demonstrators chanted slogans such as “64 votes are not second class” and “The people are with you, complete the legislature”, pointing to the government’s majority with 64 deputies out of 120 seats.
The far-right La Familia movement also participated in the demonstration, where buses were removed from illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is part of the Netanyahu coalition, and some lawmakers in the government gave speeches from the stage.
In his speech, Minister of Transport Miri Regev said that “those who disobey the order should be punished with imprisonment” regarding the soldiers who announced that they would quit their voluntary reserve military service against the government’s judicial regulation.
In the images reflected on the social media, it was seen that a group of demonstrators supporting the judicial regulation attacked the correspondent of Israel Channel12. The police drove away the group of demonstrators who had beaten the reporter.
Controversial judicial regulation
The “judicial reform” announced by Israeli Minister of Justice Yariv Levin on January 5 includes changes such as limiting the powers of the Supreme Court and the power to have a say in judicial appointments.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on March 27 that he was postponing the judicial regulation, which caused increasing mass protests and strikes across the country, but announced that they would bring the judicial regulation back to the agenda after the 2023-2024 budget was passed by the Parliament at the end of May.
The government had recently pushed the button again for judicial regulation after negotiations with the opposition stalled.
The Netanyahu government announced that the draft law that will remove the Supreme Court’s control over the government within the scope of the judicial regulation, after the first vote on July 11, will be brought to the Parliament on July 24 for the 2nd and 3rd votes.
Opposing the government’s “judicial reform”, thousands of Israelis, including fighter pilots, submarine officers, and other elite troops, had decided to resign as volunteers.
The Israeli press claimed that the Defense Minister Gallant was working to delay the draft law that would lift the Supreme Court’s control over the government after the reaction from the reserve soldiers in the army.
Senior figures in politics, army, security, economy and judiciary in Israel declared that they were against the government’s judicial regulation.
The protest movement of the Netanyahu government against judicial regulation has been continuing its demonstrations for about 7 months.