Benyamin Netanyahu reopens the door to his justice reform, despite the continuation of the demonstrations

They took to the streets for the 24th consecutive week. A crowd of Israelis demonstrated on the evening of Saturday June 17 in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities to protest against the controversial reform project of the judicial system carried by the government of Binyamin Netanyahu. While the Prime Minister of the Hebrew State had announced a pause in the legislative process in March, he opened the door to its resumption on Sunday during the Council of Ministers. The leader announced a meeting “this week” about it, promising to move the project forward “in a measured and responsible manner”.

Talks stalled

On March 27, Benyamin Netanyahu presented the pause in his reform as a way to give “luck at dialogue” with the opposition. But on Wednesday, the two main leaders of the latter, Yaïr Lapid and Benny Gantz, suspended their participation in the talks, Yaïr Lapid accusing the Prime Minister “to pretend that he was open to discussion”. On Sunday, the latter accused the opposition of “simulating fake talks”.

For the Netanyahu government, one of the most right-wing in the history of Israel, this text aims, among other things, to rebalance the powers by reducing the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, which the executive considers politicized, for the benefit of Parliament. Its detractors believe, on the contrary, that it risks opening the way to an authoritarian drift, and the text has raised an opposition movement of unprecedented magnitude.