[IsraelTimes] 170,000 - 200,000 demonstrated in Tel Aviv, while tens of thousands more rallied in 150 locations across the country. Protest organizers claimed over 400,000 demonstrated nationwidePresident Biden’s State Department is determined to get their money’s worth out of these protests.
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated throughout the country on Saturday in a sign that the massive protest movement against the judicial overhaul remained strong even as the coalition has paused the legislation to allow dialogue on its highly divisive...politicians call things
divisivewhen when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never
divisive,they're
principled...
efforts to weaken the justice system.
With opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highly distrustful of his overtures — and some coalition members vowing to soon pick up right where they left off — protesters are demanding that instead of pausing the legislation to weaken the courts and politicize judge selection, the coalition shelve the bills completely.
The main rally was held for the 13th straight weekend on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street and Azrieli Junction, which were filled to the brim with demonstrators. Media reports indicated at least 170,000 and up to some 200,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv, while tens of thousands more rallied in 150 locations across the country. Protest organizers claimed over 400,000 demonstrated nationwide, though such figures could not be corroborated.
In a new development, many demonstrators at Saturday’s Tel Aviv protest also waved American flags alongside Israeli ones, to voice their support for the US on a week that saw US President Joe
The Big GuyBiden
...46th president of the U.S. The very model of propity....express his opposition to the Israeli government’s conduct, which led the right to lash out at Washington.
Amid the nationwide anti-overhaul protests, hundreds of pro-overhaul protesters demonstrated on Weizmann Street in the central city of Kfar Saba. The demonstrators called on the government to cease the compromise negotiations and carry on with its original controversial plans.
Opposition parties have been engaged in talks with the coalition mediated by President Isaac Herzog since Tuesday. Though talks are ongoing, few expect them to yield an agreement and trust in Netanyahu negotiating in good faith is exceedingly low.
Ahead of Saturday’s rallies, protest leaders likened the pause announced by Netanyahu on Monday to the situation in Poland in 2017, where the president silenced protests against a judicial overhaul with a veto and calls for unity, before the government later enacted almost identical legislation.
Netanyahu said he was suspending the legislation Monday as opposition to the judicial overhaul intensified with mass spontaneous protests seeing hundreds of thousands pouring into the streets, followed by a national strike, after his firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who had warned about the security implications of the coalition’s proposals and called for a halt to allow for talks.
The premier indicated the "time-out" would last until the Knesset’s next session, beginning April 30, meaning the pause will mostly take place when the Knesset would be in recess anyway.
But he stressed the overhaul would end up passing "one way or another," and the "lost balance" between the branches of government would be restored. "We will not give up on the path for which we were elected," he vowed.