Demographics and grievances jaundice Israel’s judicial divide
Jerusalem Reuters As Israel’s judicial crisis reached crescendo, rival demonstrators passed each other on the escalators of a Jerusalem metro station – some arriving to picket parliament and others headed to Tel Aviv for a counter-rally backing the government. Both sides carried national blue-and-white flags and placards promoting democracy. Polite smiles and sportsmanly high-fives were […]
Protests rock Israel as it passes curbs on some Supreme Court powers
JerusalemReuters Israel’s parliament on Monday ratified the first bill of a judicial overhaul sought by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after last-gasp compromise efforts collapsed and failed to ease a constitutional crisis convulsing the country for months. The amendment limiting the Supreme Court’s powers to void some government decisions if it deemed them “unreasonable” passed by […]
Fitted with pacemaker, Netanyahu to attend key vote as crisis spirals
JerusalemReuters Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “doing excellently” after an unscheduled pacemaker implant and would on Monday attend a key judicial reform vote that has brought nationwide protests to a boil and stirred calls for compromise. With the country ensnared in its worst domestic crisis in decades, President Isaac Herzog on Sunday […]
Hundreds of Israeli reservists vow to refuse service if judicial overhaul passes
JerusalemReuters Hundreds of Israeli reservists marched in Tel Aviv on Wednesday threatening to refuse their volunteer service if the government presses ahead with its controversial plan to curb the power of the Supreme Court. The drive by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nationalist-religious coalition to strip the court of some of its review powers has triggered […]
Israel protests flare over Netanyahu’s new Supreme Court bill
Tel Aviv, IsraelReuters Thousands of protesters blockaded Israel’s main airport and highways on Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition pressed ahead with a justice bill that has opened the deepest splits seen in the country in decades. A day after parliament passed a key element in the bill, which aims to curb the […]
Netanyahu bristles at protests as Israel’s judicial reform edges ahead
JerusalemReuters Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday summoned his attorney-general to explain the police’s handling of resurgent demonstrations against his plan to overhaul the justice system, as the reform bill edges ahead. The bill that would limit “reasonableness” as a standard of judicial review – and which critics argue would open the door for […]
Israel reboots fiercely opposed judicial campaign
JerusalemReuters Israeli lawmakers on Sunday began debating a bill that would limit the Supreme Court’s powers, rebooting a fiercely opposed judicial overhaul instigated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist coalition. An aerial view shows protesters holding banners as they demonstrate against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist coalition government’s judicial overhaul, in Tel […]
Tens of thousands protest against planned Israeli judicial overhaul
Tel AvivReuters Tens of thousands of Israelis joined protests across the country, now entering their 20th week, on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contested plans to tighten controls on the Supreme Court. The planned overhaul, which would give the government control over naming judges to the Supreme Court and let parliament override many rulings, […]
Israelis protest planned judicial overhaul ahead of 75th independence day
Tel Aviv, IsraelReuters Tens of thousands of Israelis joined protests on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to tighten controls on the Supreme Court, ahead of Israel’s independence day marking 75 years since establishment of the Jewish state. The plans were paused last month in the face of a wave of strikes and mass […]
Thousands join Israeli judicial protests in shadow of attacks
Tel Aviv, Israel Reuters Tens of thousands of Israelis joined protests on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to tighten controls on the Supreme Court, despite heightened security worries after two deadly attacks a day earlier. The latest in a series of protests against the plans, which were paused last month in the face […]