Israelis have taken to the streets en masse to protest the government’s attempt to weaken the power of judges.
Police have arrested around 50 people after they blocked major roads. The protests started on Monday night when lawmakers moved forward with a key element of the judicial overhaul.
Opponents of the plans, which have divided the country and unnerved foreign investors, are scheduled to convene later at Ben Gurion international airport, possibly disrupting car traffic in and out of the hub. Police have said they’ll try to ensure flights continue as normal.
Nine protesters and one police officer were treated for minor injuries related to the demonstrations, according to Israeli emergency services. They said ambulances had been prevented from reaching local hospitals, delaying urgent medical care for at least six patients.
Israel’s shekel strengthened slightly to 3.71 against the dollar as of 2:25 p.m. local time. It’s weakened 5% since the start of the year, in large part because of the protest movement and tech investors’ concerns that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will succeed in pushing through his proposals.
“Last night, Israel became a country on the brink of dictatorship,” one of the main protest groups said. “This is a complete and total destruction of the state of Israel.”
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said the coalition Netanyahu leads would not be swayed and reiterated it wanted to change the judicial system “little by little.”
He urged police to respond to the demonstrators forcefully. Education Minister Yoav Kisch called them “terrorists.”
The government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, argues the judiciary has grown too powerful and is captured by the left. Opponents of the changes encompass a broad swath of Israelis from tech entrepreneurs to military veterans. They say the overhaul would give politicians unchecked powers.
Lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill that would stop judges from blocking government decisions they deem “unreasonable.” It needs to go through two more rounds of voting before it becomes law.
“Like thieves in the night, the government has revoked the reasonableness clause and proven that nothing interests them other than corrupt anti-democracy laws,” said opposition leader Yair Lapid, who was prime minister until late last year.
The protesters are also incensed with the government pushing to dismantle the Authority for the Advancement of the Status Women. Some are dressed up as characters from Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and are meeting arrivals at Ben Gurion with signs saying they’ve entered the novel’s imaginary dictatorship of Gilead.
(Updates number of people arrested. A previous version of the story was corrected to show that Yair Lapid stepped down as prime minister in late 2022, not mid-2022.)
