500 thousand people in Israel went to a rally against the judicial reform

Rallies against judicial reform are taking place in Israel. Half a million people have already joined the demonstrations (with a population of about 8 million in the entire country). This is the largest protest action in the entire history of Israel.

Mass protests against the judicial reform proposed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have lasted for 10 weeks. The reform assumes that the parliamentary majority will actually determine the choice of judges of the Supreme Court, and the court itself will lose the ability to overturn the government’s decisions. According to the protesters, this will mean the loss of judicial independence.

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, elected in December last year, believes that the goal of the protesters is to remove him from power. Some of the demonstrators actually put forward demands for Netanyahu’s resignation. He assumed the post of prime minister for the sixth time in his political career. At the moment, three criminal cases of corruption have been initiated against Netanyahu, but he himself denies guilt.

Netanyahu himself believes that the judicial reform will allow to balance the branches of power. The Israeli opposition, including former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, demand either the full repeal of the draft law, or allow representatives of the protesting party to amend it.