Israeli protesters across 100 towns, cities rise against Netanyahu’s ‘judicial reforms’
Thousands of people across the occupied territories have taken to the streets for the 11th week to condemn the much controversial judicial reforms by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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The protests were held on Saturday in the cities of Tel Aviv, Haifa, al-Quds, Ashdod, and Beersheba as well as elsewhere across the occupied territories, Israeli media reported.
In Tel Aviv, the participants converged on the Dizengoff Square, before fanning out and blocking roads across the center of the city.
The demonstration attracted a counter-protest, in which supporters of Netanyahu's cabinet held up banners that read "traitor leftists."
In some cases, police clashed with protesters in Tel Aviv and used water canons to disperse them.
Saturday protests even spread to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which have been long considered a political stronghold for Netanyahu's right-wing coalition partners.
The reforms proposed by the premier seek to rob the Israeli regime's Supreme Court of its ability to overrule decisions made by either Netanyahu's extremist cabinet or the Knesset. They also empower the lawmakers to strike down the court's verdicts and give them more sway in the selection committee that appoints the judges.
Addressing protesters in Ashdod, opposition politician Yair Lapid condemned the cabinet for rejecting a compromise that was proposed by the regime's president, Isaac Herzog, on Wednesday.
Staying resolute to implement the changes, Netanyahu dismissed the proposal right away, alleging, "Key sections of the outline he (Herzog) presented only perpetuate the existing situation and do not bring the required balance to the Israeli authorities."
Lapid told the protesters that members of the extremist cabinet "don't want negotiations... They want to run forward with the legislation...," referring to the cabinet's ongoing efforts to rush the reforms through the Knesset.
