More than 250,000 people still demonstrate in Israel against judicial reform

More than 250,000 people gathered this Saturday in different parts of Israel in a new Saturday of protests against the judicial reform promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this time under a strong police apparatus after the two attacks this Friday.

This day was the fourteenth consecutive week of protests against the controversial reform, which aims to give more power to the Executive at the expense of Justice, whose independence would be deeply undermined.

Although Netanyahu announced on March 27 the temporary suspension of legislative procedures and the start of negotiations with the opposition to promote consensual reform, the demonstrations did not stop.

The assistants distrust the Israeli premier’s real intentions and consider the postponement of the reform a mere tactic to weaken the protests, in view of a new attempt to approve the measure in the summer sessions of Parliament.

So far the talks between the government and the opposition, brokered by President Isaac Herzog, have not shown significant progress.

Thousands of Israelis gathered again this Saturday in cities in the south and north of the country, while the central demonstration took place in Tel Aviv.

An estimated 145,000 people attended the protest in Tel Aviv, which was held in coordination with the police out of fear of new attacks and began with a minute’s silence for the victims of yesterday’s incidents.

In addition to the usual posters with messages such as “Democracy” and “No to dictatorship”, some participants arrived with banners criticizing the government’s handling of security and even waved Italian and British flags alluding to the nationality of the victims of the bombing this Friday, when a driver ran over a group of tourists in Tel Aviv.

The attack, carried out by an Arab citizen of Israel, killed Alessandro Farini, a 36-year-old Italian tourist, and injured seven: two Italian tourists and five British.

But early in the morning, two Israeli sisters – aged 16 and 20 – were killed in a gun attack in the northern occupied West Bank, in which their mother was seriously injured.

These incidents came shortly after a violent exchange of fire between the Israeli military and Palestinian militias in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon, sparked by Wednesday’s clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian worshipers in Al Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem .