Israeli Opposition Rallies Against Judicial Reform on Eve of Supreme Court Hearing

EILAT, Israel — Thousands of opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms demonstrated Saturday evening in central Tel Aviv, ahead of a week in which Israel’s Supreme Court will hear unprecedented arguments that the sole reform that has passed thus far should be overturned.

That reform, which amends Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws to prohibit the judiciary from overturning laws or government policies on the basis of their “reasonableness,” is the most widely-accepted of Netanyahu’s proposals.

Previously, judges had used the “reasonableness” doctrine to intervene in a variety of legislative and executive decisions.

Israeli conservatives claim that judges have abused their authority to act on their own personal opinions; liberals claim the judges have been a necessary check on the growing strength of religious and nationalist political parties.

Saturday night’s protest was just the latest in a series of protests that have been held throughout the year. It followed a similar protest on Thursday night in Jerusalem by supporters of the judicial reform proposals.

Both sides hope to rally support ahead of Tuesday’s arguments at the Supreme Court, which is hearing a challenge to the first judicial reform, despite the fact that the Netanyahu government says the court lacks jurisdiction to do so.

The crowd in Tel Aviv was largely secular, with few yarmulkes visible. Many attendees carried Israeli flags; some carried Rainbow Pride flags, occasionally featuring a white Star of David in the middle, or Israeli flags in pink-and-white instead of blue-and-white.

There were a few present who carried signs opposing Israeli policy toward the Palestinians — a side issue that, some opposition activists worry, could split a movement that drew in some centrist and conservative voters earlier in the year.

Slogans on some homemade signs read: “Judges of the Supreme Court: the nation is with you! Be strong and courageous”; “Until victory”; and “A people’s army only exists in a democracy.” The latter slogan is also associated with the movement to encourage military reservists to refuse to serve until Netanyahu drops judicial reform.

Organizers sought to draw on the 50th historic anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, which took place in 1973. In that conflict, Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack on Israel while the nation was at prayer on the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. After several days of setbacks, Israel turned the tide of war and won. But the shock to the Israeli public, and the heavy cost in casualties, caused many Israelis to lose faith in their government.

That skepticism has persisted, and some activists used expressions of solidarity with the veterans of the 1973 war to emphasize their opposition to judicial reform.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.