Israel protests.. More than a quarter of a million demonstrators against the judicial amendments

Night demonstrations continued in Israel against the judicial amendments, as more than a quarter of a million demonstrators took to the streets, including 100,000 demonstrators in Tel Aviv and 85,000 in West Jerusalem, according to Al-Arabiya/Al-Hadath correspondent.

The Israeli newspaper “The Jerusalem Post” said on Saturday that 10,000 Israeli army reservists announced that they would no longer serve if the judicial amendments were approved, while more than 200,000 demonstrators took to the streets across Israel to protest the proposed amendments.

The newspaper stated on its website that this announcement comes after more than 1,000 members of the Israeli Air Force, including hundreds of pilots, announced yesterday their intention to suspend their reserve service if the government goes ahead with these amendments.

Today’s protesters received support from former heads of the Israeli security services and former army and intelligence generals who blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for refusing members of the reservists to serve in protest of the proposed amendments.

According to the newspaper, these leaders said in their letter to Netanyahu, “You are responsible for the painful blow suffered by the army and security in Israel… The government of Israel, under your leadership, is pushing for the adoption of judicial amendments that completely ignore the damage to Israeli democracy.”

“severely lacking in rationality”

At the same time, the “Times of Israel” newspaper reported that more than 200,000 demonstrators took to the streets in mass rallies across the country to protest the proposed judicial amendments, which the opposition believes aim to weaken the judiciary and reduce the powers of the Supreme Court.

The Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” quoted a letter sent by reserve officers to members of the Knesset, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevi, and the Air Force Commander, Tomer Bar, saying yesterday that the amendments that would allow the government to act in a manner that “severely lacks rationality” will harm Israel’s security.

On Monday, Netanyahu said the government would take action against what he described as disobedience among soldiers, which encourages Israel’s enemies to attack it and undermines democracy.

Netanyahu and his far-right allies argue that reform is needed to curb what they say are the excessive powers of unelected judges. But their critics say the plan would destroy the country’s system of checks and balances and set it on a path to authoritarian rule.