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Netanyahu Protests Grow!

About 40 thousand people, who reacted to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bill and right-wing policies that restrict the powers of the judiciary, gathered in the capital Tel Aviv.

In Israel, which has been in a spiral of early election and coalition crisis in recent years, the waters are not calming down.

The policies implemented by Benjamin Netanyahu, who became the prime minister for the 6th time, became the subject of criticism in Israel.

Finally, Minister of Justice Yariv Levin announced on January 5 that they were planning a law that would limit the powers of the Supreme Court and reduce the influence of the judiciary on the selection of judges.

It Caused the Crisis

The moves of the coalition government led by Netanyahu to transfer some of the powers of the judiciary to the Parliament led to tensions between the government and the Israeli judiciary, especially the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court of Israel, which serves as the highest judicial authority in the country, has the power to overturn the laws passed by the Assembly if they contradict the “fundamental laws” accepted as the draft Constitution. The Netanyahu government stated that in the judicial regulation it announced, the Supreme Court’s authority to overturn the laws passed by the Assembly would be taken away.

The power-judiciary crisis deepened when the Israeli Supreme Court ruled on January 18 that Shas leader Arya Deri, who assumed multiple ministerial positions in the Netanyahu government, would not be in the cabinet “because he was convicted of tax crimes”.

Tens of Thousands of People Landed in the Squares

After these crises, tens of thousands of people took to the streets upon the call of professional groups such as non-governmental organizations, lawyers and high technology sectors in Israel.

A minute’s silence was held for the attack in which 7 Israelis were killed in an illegal Jewish settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.

The organizers of the protests in Tel Aviv announced that no music will be played from the stages during the demonstrations.

Roads Closed to Traffic

The Israeli police closed the roads leading to the squares in Tel Aviv to traffic during the day and took intense security measures in the surrounding area. Police announced that about 40,000 people attended the demonstrations in Tel Aviv.

Thousands of demonstrators of all ages gathered on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv city centre, carrying Israeli flags. The demonstrators chanted “no to dictatorship” and “democracy”. The demonstrators dispersed by marching.

In addition to Tel Aviv, around 13 thousand people protested in Haifa in the north, and thousands of people attended near the residence of President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem. Yair Lapid, chairman of the main opposition leader, There is a Future Party, also participated in the protest in Jerusalem.

“The Right Government Does Not Want Peace”

Yaron Ram, Project Manager in Tel Aviv, said in a statement that all of the government’s decisions in Israel are against democracy and he participated in the demonstrations “because he thought it would weaken Israel”.

Noting that he participated in the demonstrations despite the tragic events in East Jerusalem, Ram said that the far-right politician in Netanyahu’s cabinet, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, “has been convicted of terrorist crimes in the past, and it is unacceptable for him to take public office as a minister.”

Teacher Yael Nevat stated that he participated in the demonstrations to fight for democracy “because he feared that the regime would become a dictatorship”.

Sharing that groupings in Israeli society have increased and that she is worried about the increase in conflict, Nevat said that right-wing governments have been ruling for a long time in Israel and they do not want peace.

She Came To Protest With Her Daughter

Director Amnon Has pointed out that he participated in the protests for the future of his six-year-old daughter, with whom he came, and said that “he thinks that what is happening in Israel today will affect the future and that there will be no justice in his country in the future.”

Noting that the Netanyahu government is “trying to gather more and more power”, Has stated that the government has increased the powers of the police and that it is permanent because it does all this by enacting it.

Has said the following regarding the Netanyahu government’s Palestinian policies:

“Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of Police in the government, ran the election campaign to ‘show us who owns this place.’ It’s starting to work in your brain. The Palestinians are getting more and more pressured. They get killed every day and then they make terrorist attacks because they have no choice, neither the government, They have neither the press nor the civilian forces. I’m not saying it’s good, but it can’t go on like this.”

30 Palestinians Killed Since New Year’s Day

The protests against the policies of the Netanyahu government are taking place in an atmosphere of increasing raids, attacks and casualties in the region.

While more than 100 thousand Israelis came to the protest in Tel Aviv last week, it is noteworthy that the participation in the demonstrations decreased this week.

A 13-year-old Palestinian in the Silvan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem launched an armed attack on Saturday morning, injuring two Israelis.

7 people were killed and 3 injured in an armed attack on Friday night near a synagogue in a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem.

The Israeli police announced that they chased the attacker who fled from the scene by car and neutralized him after the armed conflict.

9 Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, were killed in the raid carried out by the Israeli army on the Jenin Refugee Camp in the north of the occupied West Bank in the morning hours.

In the events that broke out in the region after the raid, a 22-year-old Palestinian died in the er-Ram town of occupied East Jerusalem.

As a result of the fire opened by Israeli soldiers, at least 30 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed since the beginning of the year in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Ece Nagihan

Hi, I'm Ece. I am a writer for Expat Guide Turkey and I strive to create the best content for you. To contact me, you can send an e-mail to info@expatguideturkey.com. Happy reading!

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