Protesters condemn Netanyahu’s judicial reform for 15th consecutive week

A mass rally was held in the coastal city of Tel Aviv on Saturday as the cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presses on with the reforms that seek to render the regime's Supreme Court powerless in the face of decisions made by politicians.

Protesters in Tel Aviv and other cities waved flags while banging drums and blaring horns.

More rallies were held elsewhere, including in the holy occupied city of al-Quds, the northern port city of Haifa and outside the home of Justice Minister Yariv Levin in Modiin.

The rallies have been a weekly fixture since January, when the regime announced the reforms that also seek to give Netanyahu's extremist cabinet effective control over the appointment of the Supreme Court's judges.

Netanyahu paused the reforms last month, which were receiving approval at the Knesset, as protests showed no sign of abating and were even compounded by a wave of strikes.

The protests on Saturday came a day after credit ratings agency Moody's announced it has downgraded the Israeli regime's credit outlook to "stable" from "positive."

Moody's, summing up the months of turmoil since Netanyahu returned to power late last year at the head of a religious-nationalist coalition, said the regime's institutions were less predictable given the cabinet's handling of events.

It said the change in Israel's outlook "reflects a deterioration of Israel's governance, as illustrated by the recent events" around the Israeli cabinet's "proposal for overhauling the country's judiciary."

Israel's central bank and senior finance ministry officials have warned that the judicial overhaul might impact investor sentiment and hurt the economy.