TEL AVIV: Thousands took to the streets of cities and towns across Israel on Saturday for the 23rd straight week, protesting controversial judicial reform plans as well as deadly violence hitting Arab communities.
The hard-right government’s reform proposals would curtail the authority of the Supreme Court and give politicians greater powers over the selection of judges.
In March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced a “pause” to allow for talks on the divisive reforms.
In central Tel Aviv, where thousands have gathered according to an AFP correspondent, demonstrator Michal Gat said “our country is being captured by extreme people... we’re being held hostage.”
“We have been here... with our kids, in the rain or hot weather” for 23 weeks, the 47-year-old hi-tech worker told AFP.
“It’s super important for the Israeli people to keep Israel a democracy.”
Some protesters held signs criticizing government inaction over a soaring crime wave that has affected the country’s Arab minority.
“We will not let Ben-Gvir get away with murders in the Arab society,” read one sign, referring to Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Since the start of the year, some 100 people have been killed in crime-related violence in Arab Israeli communities, according to NGOs.
On Thursday, five Arab Israelis were shot dead at a car wash in Yafia, an Arab town near the city of Nazareth, police said.
Arabs in Israel have long complained of discrimination and police inaction against violence and crime that disproportionately affects their communities.
Organizers claimed more demonstrations on Saturday across Israel including in the cities of Haifa and Rehovot.
Last month parliament approved Israel’s state budget, with Netanyahu vowing to “continue our efforts to reach understandings as broad as possible on the legal reform.”
Netanyahu’s government, a coalition between his Likud party and extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies, argues the changes are needed to rebalance powers between lawmakers and the judiciary.
Israelis protest judicial reforms, Arab crime deaths
https://arab.news/ck3wv
Israelis protest judicial reforms, Arab crime deaths
- The hard-right government's reform proposals would curtail the authority of the Supreme Court and give politicians greater powers over the selection of judges
- Some protesters held signs criticising government inaction over a soaring crime wave that has affected the country's Arab minority
Tunisia’s famed blue-and-white village threatened after record rains
- The one-time home of French philosopher Michel Foucault and writer Andre Gide, the village is protected under Tunisian preservation law, pending a UNESCO decision on its bid for World Heritage status
SIDI BOU SAID, Tunisia: Perched on a hill overlooking Carthage, Tunisia’s famed blue-and-white village of Sidi Bou Said now faces the threat of landslides, after record rainfall tore through parts of its slopes.
Last week, Tunisia saw its heaviest downpour in more than 70 years. The storm killed at least five people, with others still missing.
Narrow streets of this village north of Tunis — famed for its pink bougainvillea and studded wooden doors — were cut off by fallen trees, rocks and thick clay. Even more worryingly for residents, parts of the hillside have broken loose.
“The situation is delicate” and “requires urgent intervention,” Mounir Riabi, the regional director of civil defense in Tunis, recently told AFP.
“Some homes are threatened by imminent danger,” he said.
Authorities have banned heavy vehicles from driving into the village and ordered some businesses and institutions to close, such as the Ennejma Ezzahra museum.
- Scared -
Fifty-year-old Maya, who did not give her full name, said she was forced to leave her century-old family villa after the storm.
“Everything happened very fast,” she recalled. “I was with my mother and, suddenly, extremely violent torrents poured down.”
“I saw a mass of mud rushing toward the house, then the electricity cut off. I was really scared.”
Her Moorish-style villa sustained significant damage.
One worker on site, Said Ben Farhat, said waterlogged earth sliding from the hillside destroyed part of a kitchen wall.
“Another rainstorm and it will be a catastrophe,” he said.
Shop owners said the ban on heavy vehicles was another blow to their businesses, as they usually rely on tourist buses to bring in traffic.
When President Kais Saied visited the village on Wednesday, vendors were heard shouting: “We want to work.”
One trader, Mohamed Fedi, told AFP afterwards there were “no more customers.”
“We have closed shop,” he said, adding that the shops provide a livelihood to some 200 families.
- Highly unstable -
Beyond its famous architecture, the village also bears historical and spiritual significance.
The village was named after a 12th-century Sufi saint, Abu Said Al-Baji, who had established a religious center there. His shrine still sits atop the hill.
The one-time home of French philosopher Michel Foucault and writer Andre Gide, the village is protected under Tunisian preservation law, pending a UNESCO decision on its bid for World Heritage status.
Experts say solutions to help preserve Sidi Bou Said could include restricting new development, building more retaining walls and improving drainage to prevent runoff from accumulating.
Chokri Yaich, a geologist speaking to Tunisian radio Mosaique FM, said climate change has made protecting the hill increasingly urgent, warning of more storms like last week’s.
The hill’s clay-rich soil loses up to two thirds of its cohesion when saturated with water, making it highly unstable, Yaich explained.
He also pointed to marine erosion and the growing weight of urbanization, saying that construction had increased by about 40 percent over the past three decades.
For now, authorities have yet to announce a protection plan, leaving home and shop owners anxious, as the weather remains unpredictable.
