Israeli protests return as Netanyahu restarts judicial overhaul
The crowd in front of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem, had grown to more than a thousand by late morning, according to media estimates. Police blocked another march from reaching the Supreme Court building. As evening arrived, some 10,000 demonstrators massed at the airport and tens of thousands turned out in Tel Aviv, which has been a center of the protest movement.
Police said they had arrested more than 70 protesters by Tuesday night. Officers also detained a driver who was allegedly planning to plow his car into the crowd of demonstrators.
The actions marked the end of a three-month respite in the chaos after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu temporarily shelved his broader judicial revision package in March.
Long-simmering tensions between religious, nationalist segments of Israel and secular pluralists exploded as soon as Netanyahu’s governing coalition took power in December, vowing to limit the Supreme Court’s ability to block its most controversial actions.
The proposed overhaul was hailed by Jewish settlers, who have chafed under court-imposed restrictions on their actions in the West Bank. They were joined by ultra-Orthodox leaders who want to protect their exemptions from military service and other religious privileges threatened by judicial oversight.
But opponents, including tech workers and other educated professionals in coastal cities, see the sweeping revisions as a threat to judicial independence that would push Israel toward autocracy.
The plan provoked an immense backlash when it was first introduced. Weeks of unprecedented street protests spooked investors and shook Israel’s economy. Reserve air force pilots boycotted training missions, prompting warnings from the defense minister that the country’s military readiness could erode.
In March, after a nationwide general strike that briefly closed the airport, Netanyahu put the overall package on hold. But under pressure from hard-line ministers, and following the collapse of compromise talks with opposition leaders, Netanyahu is now allowing one part of the plan to advance.
The measure put forward Tuesday would eliminate the Supreme Court’s ability to override government actions that judges deem to be outside the bounds of “reasonableness.”
Without a written constitution, the courts have used the “reasonableness” doctrine to block certain controversial decisions and appointments. Earlier this year, in a case that infuriated conservatives, the court forced Netanyahu to fire a key political ally — ultra-Orthodox party leader Aryeh Deri — from his twin appointments as health and interior minister.
The court ruled that Deri’s multiple criminal convictions made his appointment “unreasonable in the extreme.”
Supporters of the overhaul say the court’s reliance on the reasonableness doctrine is ambiguous, has no basis in statutory law and prevents the government from carrying out the platform it was elected to enact. Opponents say it is one of the few checks on government power.
Tuesday’s preliminary vote to block the court’s use of the doctrine narrowly passed the Knesset, with all members of the coalition voting in favor.
Organizers immediately launched a “day of disruption” and pushed labor leaders to call a general strike. In social media posts, they called on citizens to “rally and safeguard Israeli democracy.”
After one protest leader directed crowds to shut Ben Gurion Airport, Energy Minister Israel Katz called for him to be arrested “for sedition and disruption of public order.”
In videos posted online, officers can be seen swinging batons, grabbing protesters in armlock holds and, in at least some cases, shoving them to the ground.
Demonstrators were on guard for more aggressive police intervention after calls by right-wing leaders for a crackdown on the protests that have blocked roads and, in some cases, targeted lawmakers’ homes. Netanyahu’s national security minister, the extremist settler leader Itamar Ben Gvir, has demanded police stop the home protests and use stun grenades and other harsh tactics.
Tel Aviv’s district police commander Ami Eshed resigned last week, saying that he was unwilling to follow Ben Gvir’s directives and that the tactics could “have filled the emergency room.”
It was unclear how far the protests would spread. The head of Israel’s main labor federation, Arnon Bar-David, beseeched Netanyahu to pull the legislation and “stop the chaos,” but stopped short of announcing a general strike.
Some veterans and military reservists participated in demonstrations Tuesday, according to the group Brothers and Sisters in Arms. About 200 reserve air force pilots and support staff met to discuss next steps, according to Haaretz.
“This is a time of major upheaval in Israel,” said Rivka Weill, a professor of constitutional law at Reichman University. “This government is adamant about pushing ahead with some kind of constitutional reform.”
Overturning the court’s powers of review would mean the return of Deri and other controversial appointments, Weill said. And it could allow the government a freer hand to fire independent judicial officials, including Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who has angered coalition members by not prosecuting more protesters.
The attorney general said she would not bow to pressure, and on Tuesday issued an advisory that police could not block demonstrations at the airport because it was legitimate public space for protests.
The judicial proposals have also created divisions within the coalition.
Parties representing settlers and ultra-Orthodox voters have called for the measure to be passed before the Knesset’s summer recess. Others, including members of Netanyahu’s own Likud Party, have urged caution.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Monday that he thinks some coalition members, wanting to avoid a return to national chaos, could vote against the bill when it comes up for final passage.
Netanyahu is said to be open to watering down the proposal to tamp down the public backlash, according to Israeli media, a possibility that angers conservatives.
“The Knesset spoke very, very clearly,” lawmaker Simcha Rothman, a leader of the judicial push, said Tuesday in a radio interview. “I’m saying explicitly, I don’t believe that the bill is likely to undergo substantive change.”
Talks over a possible compromise package of judicial revisions brokered by Israeli President Isaac Herzog broke down last month amid disputes over the makeup of the parliamentary committee that selects judges.
Lapid and Herzog called for those sessions to resume in light of Tuesday’s vote. “Come to your senses, set your egos aside and get back to talking,” Herzog said.
