Thousands of protesters have held rallies across the occupied territories for the 19th consecutive week to denounce Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist and far-right cabinet, including its so-called judicial overhaul plan. The rallies were held on Saturday in Tel Aviv and other cities throughout the occupied territories.
“If life is still going on, it means that we are going to keep the protests and we are going to do whatever we are doing every other week…,” a protester was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Through the overhaul plan, Netanyahu seeks to give his extremist cabinet more control over the makeup of the regime’s Supreme Court, which would render it almost incapable of overruling Israeli politicians’ decisions.
Proponents of the plan say the changes would strike a balance between the power that is wielded by the Israeli regime’s cabinet and the court. Detractors, however, denounce the so-called overhaul as a scheme aimed at handing unchecked power to the extremist ministers.
The demonstrations have been going on since January, when the Israeli cabinet announced its decision to push ahead with the plan.
The weekly protests have continued unabated even after Netanyahu announced a “pause” on March 27 to allow for more talks on the plan, which was moving through the regime’s parliament. The protests have already spread to all social strata across the occupied territories. Thousands of officers in reserve units of the regime’s military have said they will refuse to report for duty, while high-tech business leaders and the security establishment have also come out against the proposed plan.
The Israeli cabinet, a combination struck between Netanyahu’s Likud party and extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox political allies, has, however, vowed to press on with the scheme. Protests against the overhaul plan come against the backdrop of overall public dissatisfaction with the Israeli cabinet’s performance.
A poll conducted by Israeli television channel, KAN 11, last week, showed that 74 percent of Israeli settlers have expressed disfavor with the cabinet’s political conduct.
