“Israel Protests: Tens of Thousands Demonstrate Against Judicial Reform”

On Saturday, according to The Times of Israel, Israelis protested in 150 places in the country. Demonstrators through videos published on Twitter was supported by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who spoke on behalf of the Socialist International (SI). It unites more than a hundred left-wing political parties from all over the world, and Sánchez has been its chairman since last year.

“Dear Israeli friends, we as the Socialist International have always fought for freedom, equality, justice and democracy,” Sánchez said. “Dear friends, you will always find support in the fight for democracy with us,” the Spanish Prime Minister also said in English.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen responded to Sánchez’s message. “Opponents of reform know no bounds, they do not hesitate to damage (Israel’s) international standing,” Cohen said on Twitter, according to the Haaretz daily. “No foreign entity will make decisions for the Israeli people and I’m sure that was not Sánchez’s intention,” added Kohen, who is a member of the coalition government that also includes far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

The summer session of Israel’s parliament is set to begin on Sunday, where the ruling coalition can continue to approve the judicial reform it began in February. Despite criticism from broad sections of society and repeated calls from President Yitzchak Herzog to stop the reform, the government continued to approve it. It was only at the end of March that she announced the suspension of the process, which the prime minister did after several MPs from his Likud party, including Defense Minister Joav Galant, called on him to do so. Because of this, he earned a notice of dismissal from office, which was eventually canceled by Netanyahu.

At the demonstration in Tel Aviv, for example, the Israeli Nobel Prize winner for chemistry Aaron Ciechanover spoke, who warned that the judicial reform would also harm scientific research. “Science stands on the foundations of academic freedom, which cannot be separated from democratic and cultural freedom,” Ciechanover said. According to him, there is a threat that Israeli scientists will leave the country, and those who live abroad will not return to their homeland. “After economic damage and damage to international relations and national security, research and science will come next,” he added.

Israeli army reservists have also been protesting against the reform for several weeks, many of whom have threatened to refuse military service if the government implements the changes. Today, 700 elite military reservists sent Netanyahu a letter warning of the collapse of the army’s reserve forces if the government refuses to negotiate with the opposition, and gave an ultimatum of May 20. So far, there have been several meetings between the government and the opposition, but without a general result.

While hundreds of thousands of people have already gathered at anti-government demonstrations since January, this week was the first time a larger demonstration was held in support of justice reform. About 200,000 government supporters came to it.