In several Israeli cities, thousands of residents demonstrated for the ninth consecutive week against the controversial reform wanted by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
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For the ninth week in a row, several thousand Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv on the evening of Saturday March 4 to protest against the very controversial reform of the judicial system wanted by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and which they consider anti -democratic.
The right-wing and far-right coalition set up in December by Binyamin Netanyahu is trying to pass legislation that would notably give the government greater influence over the selection of judges and limit the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, provoking, since the announcement of the text in early January, massive demonstrations.
Reducing the influence of the judiciary
“Democracy, democracy!” Or “shame !”, chanted the demonstrators in the center of Tel Aviv, in the midst of a cloud of Israeli flags. Demonstrations are also taking place in other Israeli cities. There were clashes in Tel Aviv on Wednesday between protesters and police who used water cannons and stun grenades to disperse crowds. Eleven injured demonstrators were treated at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, the hospital’s spokesman told AFP.
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According to its detractors, the text, by aiming to reduce the influence of the judiciary in favor of political power, threatens the democratic character of the State of Israel. The opposition, including its centrist leader Yair Lapid, has repeatedly accused the Prime Minister of wanting to serve his personal interests with this reform.
But Benyamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Justice Yariv Levin consider it necessary to restore a balance of power between elected officials and the Supreme Court, which the Prime Minister and his allies consider politicized. Binyamin Netanyahu is himself tried for corruption in several cases. His critics believe that if the reform is adopted, he could use it to quash a possible judgment condemning him.
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