TEL AVIV: Thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday against the hard-line government’s judicial overhaul, ahead of a court hearing on a major element of the controversial reforms that have split the nation.
Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government unveiled its proposals in January, tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated weekly in what has become the largest protest movement in the country’s history.
“There is no such thing as democracy without the Supreme Court. Democracy, democracy!” chanted the protesters in Tel Aviv, where the rallies have taken place every Saturday since January.
“The Supreme Court is Supreme,” said one banner unfurled at the protest.
On Saturday, protests were also held in Jerusalem, Haifa, Beer Sheba, Modiin, Herzilya, and some other cities, organizers said.
The latest demonstration comes ahead of a Tuesday hearing in the Supreme Court on annulling parliament’s July vote to limit the so-called “reasonableness clause” used by the top court to review some government decisions.
Israel does not have a constitution or upper house of parliament, and the “reasonableness” law was put in place to allow judges to determine whether a government had overreached its powers.
The Supreme Court had used the measure in a high-profile ruling which barred Aryeh Deri, a Netanyahu ally, from serving in the cabinet because of a tax evasion conviction.
Opponents allege that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges he denies, of trying to use the proposed legal overhaul to quash possible judgments against him.
He rejects the accusation.
“On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will have a discussion on whether the law the government has passed is legal or not,” protester Yuval Inbar, 21, told AFP.
“If we don’t come here (to protest) we are afraid that the government is not going to respect the Supreme Court.”
The July 24 amendment to the “reasonableness clause” states that the courts cannot hear cases or issue orders against elected officials on the basis of that doctrine, activists say.
Opponents say this will give unlimited powers to the government and pave the way for more authoritarian rule.
“Netanyahu has been hijacked by messianic settlers who are attempting to have a revolution,” Josh Drill, a protest leader, told AFP.
“They are trying to do a political takeover and change the system of government to autocracy. That’s a revolution and this government is willing to bring the country down with them.”
Netanyahu’s administration, a coalition between his Likud party and extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies, argues that the legal changes are needed to rebalance powers between lawmakers and the judiciary.
Its supporters have also held occasional rallies, insisting that it is illogical for the Supreme Court to hear petitions that judge its own undefined role.
But protesters insisted on Saturday that the court has every right to do so.
“We don’t have a system of checks and balances,” said Drill.
“If there is a government that is attempting to remove all powers of the Supreme Court ... then in my view it has the right, and it is even mandatory that the Supreme Court protect the democratic process.”
The protests have drawn support from across the political spectrum of Israel, among secular and religious groups, blue-collar and tech sector workers, peace activists and military reservists.
Israelis protest ahead of court hearing on legal reforms
https://arab.news/mg2f4
Israelis protest ahead of court hearing on legal reforms
- Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government unveiled its proposals in January, tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated weekly
- “There is no such thing as democracy without the Supreme Court. Democracy, democracy!” chanted the protesters in Tel Aviv
Iranian strikes kill two in UAE, injure eight in Qatar as regional conflict escalates
- UAE defense ministry said Iran fired 137 missiles and 209 drones at the territory
- Qatar intercepted most of the 65 missiles and 12 drones launched by Iran, said officials
ABU DHABI: Explosions rocked cities across the Gulf on Saturday, killing two people in Abu Dhabi, while smoke and flames rose from Dubai landmark The Palm as Iran launched waves of attacks in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes.
The attacks hit airports in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait, as well as Gulf military bases and residential areas, raising fears of a wider conflict and rattling a region long seen as a haven of peace and security.
Across the UAE, Iran fired 137 missiles and 209 drones at the territory, the country’s defense ministry said, as projectiles streaked across the skies of every Gulf state but Oman, a mediator in the recent US-Iran talks.
The UAE defense ministry said most of the missiles and drones were intercepted but at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport officials said at least one person was killed and seven wounded in an “incident.”
Earlier, falling debris killed a Pakistani civilian in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ capital, officials said.
At Dubai International Airport four people were injured according to airport authorities and four others were also hurt at the luxury Palm development.
In Qatar, officials said Iran launched 65 missiles and 12 drones toward the Gulf state, most of which were intercepted, but eight people were injured in the salvos, with one of them in critical condition.
“We are scared of what the future is for us now, and we can’t say how the next few days are going to be,” Maha Manbaz, a nursing student in Doha told AFP.
Terrified’
Smoke poured from US bases in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain’s capital Manama, home of the American navy’s Fifth Fleet, witnesses saw.
A drone struck Kuwait’s international airport and a base housing US personnel was targeted. Three Kuwaiti soldiers and 12 other people were wounded, authorities said.
After Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reported missile strikes, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X that no American naval vessels were hit, damage to US facilities was minimal, and no US casualties had been reported.
Residential buildings were also targeted in Manama, with officials saying firefighters and civil defense teams had been dispatched to the scene.
“The sound of the first explosion terrified me,” said a 50-year-old retiree living near the US base in Manama’s Juffair area, where residents were quickly evacuated.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar warned they reserved the right to respond to the attacks.
The oil-and-gas-rich Arab monarchies, lying just across the Gulf from Iran, are long-term American allies and host a clutch of US military bases.
“The Gulf states are sandwiched between Iran and Israel, and have to bear the worst inclinations of both,” said Bader Al-Saif, an assistant professor at Kuwait University.
“Iran’s attacks on the Gulf are misplaced. They’ll only alienate its neighbors and invite further distancing from Iran,” he added.
Conflict is unusual in the Gulf, which has traded on its reputation for stability to become the Middle East’s commercial and diplomatic hub.
‘Significant damage’
The unprecedented barrage targeted Qatar’s Al Udeid base, the region’s biggest US military base, as well as Riyadh and eastern Saudi Arabia.
The UAE, Qatar and Kuwait all announced that their airspace was closed.
An AFP journalist in Qatar saw one missile destroyed in a puff of white smoke, while another in Dubai saw a volley of Patriot interceptors taking off.
Iran fired missiles at Al Udeid last June after US strikes targeted Iranian nuclear facilities during a brief war with Israel.
The escalation also saw Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed speak for the first time since a public row in late December.
The Saudi de facto ruler called the Emirati president and the pair discussed Iran’s retaliatory strikes on the Gulf and expressed solidarity and sympathy.
In Kuwait, an Iranian missile attack caused “significant damage” to the runway at an air base hosting Italian air force personnel, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying.
Late on Saturday, Kuwaiti officials said a drone targeted a naval base there with air defense forces intercepting the projectile, according to a post by the defense ministry on X.
For many residents in the Gulf, which has drawn a cosmopolitan, largely expat population, the reaction was one of shock.
“I heard the explosions, I don’t know what I felt,” a Lebanese woman living in Riyadh told AFP.
“We came to the Gulf because it’s known to be safer than Lebanon. Now I don’t know what to do or how to think really.”
